


Re: Obsession

by Ninjam117



Category: Monsuno
Genre: Gen, Teen Angst, friends that are practically enemies its canon trust me, friends to enemies to friends to lovers probabbly, monsuno - Freeform, my hot garbage from 2014, those were simpler times
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:01:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 59,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27610409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ninjam117/pseuds/Ninjam117
Summary: Chase and the gang gotta go get readings for Jeredy's BIG BOARD but get sidetracked by the Hand of Destiny and new monsuno
Comments: 21
Kudos: 11





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Obsession](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/714608) by Herpalerp. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes you lose a bet concerning the politics of your country high off the fumes of insanity that is Nov 5th and are forced to confront the sins of fanfiction's past of 2014/15. I did some major edits to it because it's hot garbage, but it's also not completely my hot garbage so it starts and ends the same. To clarify, I didn’t write the whole thing in the span of a week. That would be excessive. And sad.
> 
> Timeline wise. Who fucking knows when this takes place somtime in season 2. I don't remember and I hate Jeredy's submarine train.  
> So probably after that happened.

The desert stretched far ahead for miles, sunlight heating up the sand below their feet. A black haired teen in a blue jacket, Chase Suno, was the first out of the shade of the adjacent tropical jungle. He took a long gaze around as the rest of his friends trailed out behind him.

"Ugh. Why does it have to be so hot here!" Bren said, slumping as he walked along. He took his glasses off as he wiped some of the sweat off his brow.

"It's only been ten minutes since we left camp, Bren. I'd imagine you could man up for a few minutes," Jinja remarked, sighing at the heat.

"Easy for you to say. It’s as hot as your head out here,"Bren said with a smirk. Jinja turned with a ferocious look.

"What was that?!"

Chase chuckled at the antics of his friends. After Jinja was finished pummeling Bren's arm, he brought up the Core Tablet.

"We should reach the spot Dr. Suno specified in an hour or so," he said, “The monsuno frequencies should be there.”

"We should be able to head back soon then," Beyal said, gazing around at the desert around them.

"Yeah, then we wouldn't have to listen to Bren complain," Dax snickered. Bren glared daggers at him.

"Oh haha. Make fun of the smart guy."

Chase's attention to his group was long gone, however, as he continued to walk forward. His dad had sent the small group out to collect monsuno frequencies for his big board, something that would help prevent the monsuno essence from burrowing to the Earth’s core. Yet as Chase continued to walk forward, half listening to his friends talking (or in Bren and Jinja's case, fighting), the urgency seemed to be so far away. It was almost relaxing when compared to all the other battles they had been facing. 

Chase slowed his pace at that last thought. As much as he loved having his father back in his life, he was still missing his mother, and it had only gotten worse with the constant visions he would have of her. But she had gone missing eleven years ago, only faint memories of her lingering.

He started walking again, his thoughts on what happened a few weeks ago with their last encounter with the Hand of Destiny. That was when he finally found out what happened and who took her. And now that he knew he wasn’t about to give up-

"Oi! Baby Suno!" Dax shouted. Chase turned around. He must've quickened his pace at the last moment without realizing it, because everyone was now at least twenty paces away.

"Oh. Sorry. Lost in thought. Was there something you wanted?" Chase asked. Dax rolled his eyes.

"Yeah. We've been at it all day now going through that jungle. And I don't think you've noticed, but everyone could use a break," Dax said, tilting his head towards the others. Chase immediately looked all around them, seeing nothing but sand and desert for miles. By the time he turned completely around, everyone had caught up and were heavily drinking water.

"Sorry Dax. But I don't see anywhere for us _to_ take a break," Chase shrugged, "I'm sure we're almost to the meeting point. Isn't that right B?"

"Wha-" Bren spluttered as he spilt water all over his front."Oh. Hold on."

He took out the core tablet, and after a few clicks, he frowned.

"Sorry Chase. I can't seem to get a signal out here," Bren said, and started to tap away at the screen, "I think that means we're getting close?"

"That's okay. Beyal, can you see anything with your-" Chase stopped as soon as he saw the far away look that Beyal was giving. Not really looking at anything in particular, and most likely in the middle of some sort of vision. After a moment, his eyes blinked back to normal.

"Uh... Earth to Beyal. Did you see anything?" Chase asked. Slowly, Beyal looked up, but shook his head.

"I'm afraid not. Though I did sense... Something," he replied, trailing off at the end. Jinja, who was next to him, gave Chase a worrying look.

"I'm sure it's probably fine," Chase waved his hand around, "According to my dad, we only have to go a few miles out before we get to the point."

They spent a few more minutes walking across the sand dunes, which started to look extremely similar. The only difference was how distant the jungle trees behind them became. Chase could feel sweat rolling down his face in bucket loads.

"I spy with my little eye-" Bren said, "Something starting with s."

"Oh let me guess. It's sand right?" Jinja said sarcastically, "Like all the past five times."

“Sorry for trying to lighten the mood,” Bren said, then looked around, “I spy-”

“Let me guess,” Dax said with a loud sigh, “Is it sand?!”

Bren came to a stop, “No. Actually.’

Chase noticed the surprise in his tone, and turned around. "What is it, B?"

Bren pointed forward, and when they all looked there was something on the horizon. It was small and black at the moment, but was moving across the desert to their left.

"What is it?" Jinja asked, squinting.

"... It kind of looks like S.T.O.R.M.," Chase said. They had managed to avoid the organization for a while now after their battle with the Strike Squad and converting the railway into a sub. It was only a matter of time before they crossed paths again. "Bren, do you know if there's a base around here?" 

Bren was tapping on the core tablet and furrowing his brow.

"I still can't get a signal out here. It's like there's something blocking it," Bren said, "Or it's just a big dead zone out here."

Chase bit his lip. Now they couldn't tell how far to go, or even if they were heading in the right direction.

"Well... Since they're not heading our way, I suppose we should just keep going," he said, and continued to walk. He only took five steps before he found himself slipping down one of the dunes. He let out a yelp as he rolled before hitting the bottom.

"Chase! You all right?" Jinja exclaimed. Chase brushed the sand out of his hair before turning back.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" He shouted, "Just slid down a small-" He stopped when he found himself staring up at everyone at the top of the sand dune.

'I guess the fall was larger than I thought.'

"Hold on! We're coming down!" Bren shouted. Chase continued to look around, and found that he was standing in a large depression in the sand. There were also rocks instead of sand as he moved to the middle, and soon he was looking down a large pit in the ground.

"Whatcha find Baby Suno?" Dax asked. Chase bent down to look inside, but it got dark after a few feet down.

"Not sure. But I have a feeling it's what my dad was looking for," he said, standing back up, "He did say we would know it when we saw it."

"Well maybe we should send someone down, just to make sure," Jinja said. They heard Bren give out a yelp as he slid down, and all turned to him.

"Ah! I hate sand!" he groaned, and looked up, "... So what are we doing?" 

Jinja turned to Chase with a mischievous smirk.

_~*~*~*~_

"Chaaaase! Why do I have to be the one to go down?" Bren whined as they continued to lower him into the hole. While they could’ve let him climb down, he insisted on having a little extra safety. They strapped a rope around him like a harness, though that did little to comfort him. It kept getting darker and darker as they let the rope drop more.

"Because-uh!... Bren... You’re... The lightest!" Chased huffed out, trying to keep a firm grip on the rope. It was an overstatement considering how they were all desperately trying to hold on while sliding along the sand.

"Why couldn't you send Jinja down? Or Beyal?" Bren continued to complain, his voice echoing up to them. "You know how much I don't like cold, dark, cramped spaces!"

None of them responded, so he brought the Core Tablet up, pushing a few buttons until a decent amount of light was shining around. Bren frowned when he was still looking at the walls, despite being a good ten feet down from everyone. He looked down and could see the ground a few feet below, and the hole widening out.

"I think I see the bottom now!" Bren called out, "It looks like it’s a cave. Or something. Can you guys lower any more?"

"...I don't think so!" Chase shouted. "Do you see anything down there?"

Bren frowned at the wall, "No. If you could lower me one more-"

A small bit of light crept through a crack in the wall. Bren tried to look through, but the hole was too small. He started to chip away at the wall, crumbling in small shards at first and then quickly becoming large chunks.

"... Bren? You see something?"

"Yeah! There's this light but I can't see anything. The hole's too small," Bren replied. He continued to poke at it until his hand could fit through, "... I can't see what it is! The light's really bright!"

He started breaking more away before hearing Chase. "Can you see where the light is coming from?! Is the Core Tablet picking up something?"

Bren looked to the tablet, which was still all static. He twisted around on the harness, "... No... Maybe if I-woah!"

The light became blinding and he was forced to lean back. When he shifted his weight, they were all yanked forward into the hole. Their screams echoed as they hit the ground.

"Ow ow ow..." Jinja said, turning to punch Bren in the shoulder, "Why'd you pull us down, Bren! Now we’re all stuck in the hole!"

"Agh! It's not my fault! The light got really bright," Bren mumbled. Chase managed to pull himself out from everyone, looking around. It looked like any other cave, except for a few glowing rocks. Ahead of them Bren could see where the light had come from, but there was also someone there. Beyal went up to Chase.

"There's something wrong about the air in here," the monk said, "it is as if pure monsuno energy is around us."

Chase took a few steps forward. The light started to distort. They could all hear voices ahead.

" _Is it almost ready?"_

" _Only a few more minutes and the barrier will finally come down. The second it does, we will only have a moment before it escapes."_

" _Petros will be proud to know that we will have succeeded."_

Chase let out a gasp. He ran forward a few steps.

Jinja got back to her feet. “Chase wait-”

“ _Who’s there?”_

The figures towards the light noticed the group. In all there were four of varying heights.

“We should be saying that!” Chase exclaimed, “You said Petros. Do you work for the Hand of Destiny?”

There was silence. Chase held out Lock’s core. “You better have something to say. Otherwise Lock will answer for you!”

One of the figures gasped, “ _Lock… The lynchpin-You’re Chase Suno.”_

As soon as that was said, another one of the figures rushed out towards Chase.

“ _Hey! Get back over here Te-”_

The light suddenly got more intense. Everyone flinched back.

"Lock, Launch!" Chase shouted. Within a second of hitting the wall of the cavern, Lock appeared in a burst of blue light, and gave out a roar that shook the whole cavern. Lock immediately stared down the figure that was still running towards Chase. He couldn’t see what they looked like, hidden under a brown cloak.

“I-I mean it!” Chase warned, “If you don’t stop Lock will-”

The light got blinding. Suddenly, it started shooting out in white beams. It struck out into the cave, making the ground shake.

"Chase! What's going on!" Jinja shouted. He wasn’t paying attention, instead watching as the Lock charged at the figure in front of them. His paw swung out, the figure leaping into the air. Chase took a step back as they pounced on top of him. 

He hit the ground hard, still hearing his friends shouting at him-

“ _Chase.”_

He gasped, recognizing the voice. When he saw their eyes, which seemed to be _glowing_ blue, his mouth hung open.

“... It can’t be-”

Chase felt captivated by the look, everything seeming to fade away as he stared into them. As if there was a deep abyss beyond them, and staring into them just drew him in more and more.

Suddenly, it was gone. And everything went to black.

~*~*~*~

" _What's going on_?!"

" _It's too unstable! We need to abort the mission!"_

_"But what about the monsuno? Shouldn't it have formed?"_

“ _Summon the others so we can escape-”_

“What in bleezers is going on?” Dax shouted.

“Doesn’t matter!” Jinja shouted back, “Let’s get out our monsuno and ask questions later!”

"Chase! We have to get out of here!" Bren shouted. Dust was tossed in the air along with the crumbling ceiling, making it even harder to see in the dark.

"Lock’s over there!" Jinja shouted. Both she and Beyal ran towards the monsuno, who was swinging out into the dark. Getting closer showed Lock was trying to strike at one of the figures that was leaping around through the air. 

“Chase!” Beyal called out, spotting the teen on the ground. The figure turned and dodged between Lock’s swings, charging towards Chase. Jinja sprinted forward and got between them. 

“ _Out of the way!”_ They growled, throwing a punch at Jinja. She caught their fist, heels digging into the ground.

 _“_ Beyal get Chase!” Jinja grunted, catching the other's free hand that tried to strike at her.

Suddenly, Lock let out another roar. A beam of white light shot out from the center of the room.

“ _Tesserah catch it!”_

The light went straight towards the small group. Jinja flinched, shielding her face. Just as she did, she saw the light shoot through Beyal.

He gave a small gasp before falling backward.

"Beyal!" Jinja yelled, and ran over to him. The cavern quaked, and sunlight finally started to shine through the ceiling as sand poured through.

~*~*~*~

"We have to get out of here!" Dax shouted. Bren turned and nodded, but then saw a flash in the corner of his eye. It was then that he noticed the glowing eyes staring out at them from afar.

"Dax look out!"

A monsuno leaped out and dashed forward at them. Dax grabbed Boost's core."Boost, launch!"

Boost came out in a blue light, and stopped the monsuno from advancing. Both Dax and Bren could see that looked like a Jackal, though half its body and tail were covered in crystal-like scales. It bit and thrashed about as Boost griped tighter with its own claws.

“Find the others, Glasses!” Dax exclaimed.

Bren couldn't see anyone else around, but eventually spotted Chase on the ground, Lock protecting him from the falling rocks. Further he saw Jinja, who was now holding onto Beyal. He must've gotten knocked out. 

There was another flash, and Bren was staring down another pair of large white eyes leering at them.

"Jinja get down!" 

The monsuno was fast, and was soon standing above Jinja and Beyal. It looked like a mountain lion with crystals sticking out of its back like spines, though it was thin and sickly.

"Lock, take it out!"

Lock charged forward, and both wrestled ferociously. Bren quickly looked to see Chase back on his feet. Dax hurried over to Jinja and Beyal while Boost stood guard.

"Chase!" Bren exclaimed, running up to Chase, "We have to get out of here! The cave is collapsing!"

Chase nodded, "Make us an exit! Lock will keep it busy."

Bren took a hold of Neo-Quickforce's core.

"Neo-Quickforce! Launch!"

After it appeared, it didn't take long for Neo-Quickforce to burst through the ceiling, leaving them in a cloud of dust. 

"Jinja! We gotta go!" Chase shouted. From the plumes of dust Jinja threw out a core.

"Skyfall, launch!"

Chase didn't bother with telling them where to go. It was obvious: out. "Bren! Let's go!"

"Neo-Quickforce!" Bren shouted, and felt the ground next to him quake. He could see his monsuno bend low so he could climb on. Without a second thought, he hopped on, Chase right after him.

"Lock!"

"Boost!"

"Return!"

Both Neo-Quickforce and Skyfall darted out of the dust and remaining ceiling into the desert sky. Below, the sand had finally consumed the remains of the cavern, and left nothing but mounds of sand in its place. Nothing was said as they watched for a moment, expecting something to happen or appear. Finally, the two monsuno climbed out of the sand. They spotted the group hovering above, and started to lurk below them.

"Now where do we go?" Bren asked as they slowly eased away from where the monsuno were. “What. What even was that back there?”

Chase was silent, something uneasy in his eyes. 

“Bren,” he said, “Back there… Those creeps were from the Hand of Destiny right?” 

“Uh. They didn’t look like it, but they said ‘Petros’ right? The weirdo you battled before?” Bren asked.

Chase continued to look ahead of them as Neo-Quickforce increased its speed. His eyes were conflicted, his mouth set into a deep frown. It was no secret that the Hand of Destiny were after Chase and Beyal. They especially seemed interested in Chase, which they had found out was because his mother had been taken prisoner by the Hand years ago.

Bren glanced back at the others. Jinja was looking furious and flustered (probably from the attack), while Dax sat behind her, holding onto Beyal who was still out cold. The white monsuno were still running along under them, though they stayed some distance away. Sighing, Bren turned back to Chase.

"So... Where are we going exactly? Are we going to find the monsuno frequencies or are we turning around to take out those monsuno?" he asked. Chase hummed in thought.

“Let’s find out who those creeps were,” Chase said, “If they have something to do with the Hand of Destiny, then they might know where my mother is. We can’t let this kind of opportunity go to waste.”

Bren nodded, “Sure. Sure. So. Uh. What’s the plan?”

"I'll go down with Evo and try to take the monsuno out," Chase said, taking out Evo's core, "Those weirdos are probably the controllers, so they shouldn’t be that far from here. Once we take out their monsuno, we can interrogate them on where their base is."

Bren nodded before looking down, “Yeah that would be a good plan. Except those monsuno are gone.”

"What?!" Chase exclaimed, turning to see for himself. Despite them being in the open desert, there was no sign of the monsuno. The other three hadn’t noticed either, still following Neo-Quickforce. 

"Where the heck did they go so fast?" Chase muttered.

"Hey Chase," Bren said, stirring Chase from his thoughts, "Those monsuno... They were different then normal ones. And I don't just mean how powerful they were."

“You’re right,” Chase said, “Their attacks were too uncoordinated. And I didn’t see them spin out. But they couldn’t be wild monsuno...”

He looked down at Lock's core, the light inside flashing a bit. Lock was still antsy. Chase looked up, “Bren. Turn around, we need to find that cave again."

"What?! Has the heat finally gotten to your brain?" Bren exclaimed, "Chase. There's nothing out here but desert, and I'm pretty sure we're not going to see anything _but_ desert. I doubt we're going to find that spot again now that it's buried under all this sand."

"I know B. But we have to try. The only way we'll ever find out about the Hand of Destiny is to find out what they were doing there," Chase reasoned. 

Bren frowned, but couldn’t help but agree. Neo-Quickforce glided a bit slower, going next to Skyfall. 

Chase’s eyes landed on Beyal, who was still out cold."How's he doing Dax?" 

"I can't really tell,” Dax said, “He seems alright-”

Beyal let out a groan. His eyes slowly opened, and blinked a few times.

"How’re you feeling Beyal?" Jinja asked, and Beyal sat up. He held his head, and swayed a bit.

"... Tired..." He muttered, blinking slowly. A flash of gentleness was in Jinja's eyes for a moment before she to Chase, “Where to next?”

“We were just talking about that,” Chase said, “Those guys in the cave had to be part of the Hand of Destiny, but they must’ve used their monsuno to escape.”

“Or that weird transporting thing they do,” Bren piped in.

“So what’s next then?” Dax asked, “We turnin’ around and doing a sweep of the desert? Or should we-”

Immediately something went flying between the two monsuno. They all screamed as both Neo-Quickforce and Skyfall swerved away suddenly. A second blast came and hit Neo-Quickforce, turning it back into a flash of blue light.

Both Chase and Bren shouted out as they plummeted to the ground. Chase turned mid-air, grabbing the core launcher. 

“Evo! Launch!”

Evo's core hit Skyfall, bursting out. It dashed down and caught the two teens. They roughly landed on its back as it circled around.

"Ah! That was too close," Chase panted, he turned to Bren, whose hair stuck up wildly as he sat up, "You okay, B?"

"Sure. As fine as a guy could be," Bren huffed, straightening his glasses. He blinked and suddenly pointed frantically in front of them. "Punk Monks twelve o'clock!"

Chase turned around to see Drezz and his crew, four more of their monsuno standing by. Fifty feet behind them was a cliff, dipping into the sand that most likely led down to a canyon. Afterburn hovered above them, but didn’t attack. Instead it kept them away from Skyfall.

“Think they wanna talk?” Bren asked.

“If they do it’s probably not good,” Chase replied, guiding Evo down. They hopped off, standing a distance away from the leering villains. "Out of the way Punk Monks. We don't have time to mess around today." 

"It's not you we're after today, Suno," Drezz said, "We're just here for some information."

"And to deliver a message," Throttle added, her lips curling into a smirk. Chase exchanged looks with Bren. Skyfall had yet to land, kept away by Afterburn. Chase turned back to the Punk Monks.

"Alright then. What do you wanna know?" He asked. 

"We heard there was a spike in monsuno energy near here," Drezz said, putting his hands in his pockets, "Apparently it has some special properties that could further the doctor's research. We were told that _you_ know where it is. And as you know, the professor is vastly interested in all things monsuno."

Chase pretended to think for a moment. 

"I can't say I know," he said shrugging, and pointed backwards, "Although there were some rogue monsuno back that way if you want to see. Though I'm sure S.T.O.R.M. would be happy to fight you for them."

"Rogue monsuno? Has the heat gotten to your head boy?" Tinker remarked. Drezz held his hand up to silence them.

"As much as I enjoy your jokes, we're in a hurry. You sure you don't know anything about it?" Drezz asked, and snapped his fingers. Immediately, Afterburn edged closer to Skyfall and the others, "'cause we can help persuade you if necessary."

Both Afterburn and Skyfall let out shrieks. Chase and Bren both turned to see the dragon-like monsuno taking a hold of the other as everyone dangled dangerously off the side. The other monsuno took off after them and were lurking below, waiting for them to fall.

"W-wait! Stop!" Chase shouted. Drezz looked back to his crew, who had their monsuno back off a little. Afterburn continued to hold onto Skyfall, and Chase's eyes lingered on the rest of Team Core Tech before he turned back. Drezz smirked, and held out a small USB drive.

"From Dr. Tallis."

"... What is it?" Chase asked, turning it in his fingertips.

"Not sure. We weren't allowed to see what the doctor put on it," Drezz said, " All I know is that you better start talking. Otherwise your little friends will be toast."

Chase slipped the jump-drive into his pocket, his eyes lingering on the ground. What was he supposed to say? 

"…Well Suno?"

Chase licked his lips nervously, "If you call off your monsuno, we'll show you the readings we got from the monsuno essence an hour ago."

Drezz hesitated for a brief moment, debating whether to trust Chase or not.

"Uh… Chase," Bren whispered, leaning over to Chase. "We never got those readings, remember?"

"Yeah I know, but we just need to _show_ them something," Chase said, "Try to bring up whatever you can."

~*~*~*~

"Wh-what's going on down there?" Dax asked as they all continued to hang onto Skyfall's talons. It was an awkward angle to see what was going on, especially with the monsuno moving every other second.

"Ugh... Can't tell!" Jinja said, trying to maneuver around. Afterburn's tail would keep swishing through the air and kept getting in the way of what was going on. "It looks like Drezz gave Chase something."

"Really? What'd he give?" Dax asked, trying to look over as well

"Well. If I could _see_ from here I'd tell you," Jinja huffed out annoyed.

"Can't help it if your big head gets in the way." Dax smirked. Jinja's ears turned red, and she looked back with a furious look.

"Oh you and Bren are so dead when this is all over! If it weren't for Beyal being between us I would-"

Beyal, who remained silent the whole time, suddenly noticed something in the air. Ever since he woke up there was a strange presence around them. From the corner of his eyes he swore he saw a monsuno appear and then disappear, but Skyfall and Afterburn didn’t notice anything. There was also a faint ringing in his ears that seemed to be getting steadily louder, almost making his head spin...

"-and that's the last thing you'd want," Jinja finished.

"Sure thing princess," Dax said rolling his eyes. "Oi, I think something's going down over there."

All their attention went back to Chase and Bren, who were now talking to each other. After a moment, Bren walked over to Drezz, showing him something on the Core Tablet. Whatever he showed didn't make Drezz happy. Bren turned back to Chase, and as they kept speaking, Drezz seemed to be getting more annoyed.

_"...Beyal..."_

_"_ Huh? Did you say something Dax?" Beyal asked, only to get a weird look from Dax. Beyal immediately looked away, thinking it was his imagination.

" _…_ "

He heard it again. He looked over his shoulder. In the desert there was something approaching at a quick pace. A beam of light shot at Afterburn from the distance. On instinct, Beyal grabbed both Jinja and Dax, dragging them down. The light crashed into Afterburn and Skyfall.

Skyfall disappeared in a flash of blue and they went plummeting to the ground. Shouts pierced the air, the most prominent being Chase and Bren. Beyal grabbed a core. “Glowblade, launch!”

Glowblade appeared below, catching the three before shooting three beams at the Punk Monk's monsuno. Beyal, Jinja, and Dax all clung to the monsuno as it reared its heads at the oncoming monsuno. 

"Chase! Over there!" Bren exclaimed. From across the canyon there was an unfamiliar monsuno. It looked like an owl, but when its eyes opened, they were like that of a snake's. It's neck elongated, tilting in a disturbing matter as it watched them all. Finally, the beast gave an ear-piercing shriek that caused them all to grasp their ears. That was when all mayhem broke loose among the monsuno.

The Punk Monks monsuno all flinched before turning on each other, firing blasts and clawing amongst each other. Glowblade immediately flailed about. 

“Glowblade-what’s wrong?” Beyal asked as Jinja slid down the snake’s back. Dax grabbed Beyal’s cloak, tugging him down with him. As soon as he rolled off the tail, Beyal held out his core, “Return!”

As soon as the energy popped back into the core, Beyal cradled it. He could feel something… Wrong.

“Let’s go!” Jinja shouted, taking off into the clouds of sand. 

“ _Beyal.”_

The monk froze. The voice was behind him.

~*~*~*~

"Wh-what's going on Drezz?" Throttle asked. The Punk Monk's monsuno were now fighting amongst each other, but when Chase and Bren looked closer, they saw the monsuno from the cave. Drezz growled, and took a hold of Chase by the front of his shirt.

"This is your doing isn't it Suno?" he said. Before anyone could say anything, there was another loud howl behind them. Glowblade disappeared into a flash.

"Guys!" Chase shouted, but was stopped when Drezz took a firmer grasp of his shirt.

"We're not done talking here Suno!"

Wasting no time, Bren took out another core before running forward.

"Longfang! Launch!"

His monsuno appeared, charging into the fray as the monsuno came dangerously close to the pair.

"Bren! Evo! Let's go! " Chase yelled. Bren turned around to see Chase running towards the canyon, Drezz doubled over clutching his stomach. Evo took off, clawing at Afterburn that tried to bite at Chase. Not wasting any more time, Bren quickly followed, trying to get sight of Longfang and the others. Finally he saw Jinja and Dax emerge from the cloud of dust being kicked up by the fight.

"Longfang this way!" He shouted, waving his arms in the air. Unfortunately that attracted the attention of the owl monsuno. Bren let out a yelp before running after Chase, the monsuno now charging into their direction. Evo threw Afterburn at it, the two monsuno crashing to the ground. 

"Chase! We gotta get out of here!" Bren exclaimed. Chase looked over the edge of the cliff. Below was a canyon with a river running through it, but was far down.

"You’re right," Chase said. Evo wouldn't last much longer, and wouldn't be able to carry them all either. It was up to Dax and Beyal's monsuno now.

"Chase! Bren!" Jinja called out, avoiding a blast from one of the monsuno. She ran out of the plumes of dust, a bit flustered but overall unharmed.

"Jin, we have to find a way out of here," Chase said, ducking down as a blast came flying by, "Where's everybody else?"

"They're right behind-" Jinja stopped, Dax came running out of the dust, much more disheveled then Jinja. Longfang jumped out, standing a few feet away between them and the monsuno battling. It would hiss and growl as soon as the fighting came near them.

"Dax, where did Beyal go?" Jinja asked.

"How should I know? I thought you were keeping an eye on him," Dax snapped, dusting himself off a little. Jinja shot him a look, and started to look around. There was too much chaos to see anything beside the monsuno. Even the Punk Monks were somewhere amongst it all and were hardly visible.

" _… Chase."_

He blinked, thinking he was hearing things.

_"Chase."_

That time he definitely heard someone. If it was anything like his previous visions, he knew who it was.

"Chase? Where are you going?" Bren asked as he took off.

"You guys stay here and out of sight. I'll go find Beyal," Chase said, and charged forward, despite their yells behind him. There was dust and blasts flying everywhere as he searched, trying to find some sort of sign. Evo was close by, and managed to throw Ripsaw back. Chase eyed the mountain lion monsuno that immediately latched onto Ripsaw.

'How did those rogue monsuno get here so fast? They weren't even following us the last time I check,' Chase thought as the mountain lion monsuno suddenly charged towards Evo. Evo launched a blast, taking two in return. It was called back to its core.

Chase coughed as sand was kicked into the air. There were only a few of the Punk Monks' monsuno out battling, though they looked down to their last bits of energy. Drezz and the others were on the farther side away from everything. 

When he turned around, Chase stopped. There was a woman standing on the edge of the cliff a few feet away, her long brown hair flowing in the wind. Chase's eyes widened in realization of who it was, even with her back facing him. Sand and dust was tossed in the air, and when Chase rubbed his eyes, the woman had disappeared and Beyal was standing there instead. Chase stood dumbly for a moment, realizing he was just seeing things.

Or. Was he having another vision?

"Beyal! We need to get out of here!" Chase exclaimed, getting as close as possible without drawing attention. The monsuno were still a couple of feet away, and even though they were going after the Punk Monks that didn't mean they wouldn't change their minds and come after him. 

Despite all that was going on around them, Beyal seemed to have a calm demeanor, standing still against the wind that was starting to pick up. When he turned so that they faced each other, Chase gasped. His eyes were half open, but were glowing a bright green.

"B-Beyal? Are you-"

" _Chase Suno."_ Chase's eyes widened, shocked at the strange voice Beyal spoke in. It was silent, but also rung clearly out, even with them standing far apart from each other. Beyal raised a hand and pointed towards the edge of the cliff.

" _North of here is the real entrance to the ruins of the five tribes that you had found. We must go back before_ they _do."_ Beyal lowered his arm slow.

"W-Wha- What are talking about?" Chase asked. The monk looked straight at Chase, who hesitated under the intense gaze. It was strange to see Beyal give him such a vicious look, when usually he had a peaceful air. Chase stood his ground though.

"Who are you? You're not Beyal."

They, whoever _they_ were, didn't respond, and Beyal suddenly swayed before collapsing to the ground.

“Beyal-”

"Chase! Where are you?”

“There he is- Chase" Jinja shouted. Hands jerked his shoulders.

"Chase! Wake up, we need to get out of here!" Bren exclaimed, shaking his shoulders more. Chase didn't respond, eyes looking out towards the desert. Jinja spotted Beyal on the ground, running over to him.

There was another roar. Longfang was tossed back, retreating into its core. Leaving them face to face with the three rogue monsuno. Dax stepped forward with a grin.

"I guess it’s my turn!” he said, “Airswitch, launch!"

The monsuno stepped back a bit when Airswitch appeared, but charged forward anyway. Bren and Jinja could only watch as Dax tried to take the monsuno on single-handed. 

“Airswitch, lead them away!” Dax called. Even with the flight advantage, the monsuno were able to overpower Airswitch easily. As soon as they pinned it down, the Owl-like monsuno suddenly flew overhead, and landed in front of Jinja and Beyal. It shrieked down at the two. Jinja sat frozen with fear, and without thinking, Dax stood in front of them as it charged up another attack.

Airswitch was suddenly thrown into the monsuno, and the blast hit the ground instead. Within seconds, the cliffs were crumbling down and they were all falling. The monsuno pelted Airswitch with more blasts, finally causing it to disappear. Dax cursed as Bren and Jinja screamed as they all fell. Chase snapped out of his daze when he heard them, and let out a yelp before they all hit the surface of the river below.

~*~*~*~

The sun was now on the farther side of the sky, meaning it was now well into the afternoon. S.T.O.R.M. cloud hoppers were now spreading throughout the desert. A few miles west was the entrance to a mine shaft where four people came out covered in dust.

" _Who would've thought that Suno would show up,"_ one of the people hissed, _"Here. Of all places! Wasn't he supposed to be with his father?"_

 _"That's what one of the reports said,"_ the larger of the group said, " _But as you know, he tends to find trouble._ "

" _Then how is it that Petros is having such trouble capturing this kid?"_ the first person asked irritated, " _If it weren't for our task we probably could've captured him ourselves."_

There was a sound in the distance. When they looked over towards the east, black helicopters were hovering over the remains of the cavern, taking took off into two different directions.

"… _We could've captured him if it weren’t for our job,"_ a third person added in, much younger then the rest of them, _"Not that it matters since the monsuno got away. Let’s just go find the last seal and call it quits.”_

 _“No,”_ the first speaker said, “ _We were supposed to capture the monsuno here. We’ll be dead if we don’t. It must still be here somewhere… If not physically it must’ve…”_

The last person who had yet to speak took a few steps forward into the desert. The jungle wasn't too far off, and could easily be reached before the sun went down, especially now that the helicopters were now traveling back into the desert.

"… _The monsuno doesn’t matter,"_ They said, voice feminine and soft, _"Chase Suno was here."_

The wind started to pick up, causing dust and sand to glide across the dunes. Dark clouds were forming in the distance towards the jungle. Their eyes glistened blue from under their hood. "… _The monsuno has to come back here eventually. We can capture it then. And I think I have the perfect plan to get both_ it _and Suno._ "

There was a flash. The first figure pulled out a clear core which was now pulsing lightly. They scoffed.

“ _Well. Looks like you can put that plan into place then Tesserah,”_ they said, “ _Looks like they found Suno.”_


	2. Chapter 2

Oh how he had waited for this moment. Not only was Jeredy’s son now in range, he had discovered a new source of monsuno energy! All Emmanuel Klipse had to do was take it before Charlemagne or Jeredy did, and he would finally be able to create a perfect human-monsuno hybrid.

Sure the last few attempts were unsuccessful (especially because of Chase Suno!), but this new energy would most likely be the key. According to the readings, not only was it in a purer form than any energy so far, it was also a different structure.

"Have you tracked down the monsuno energy wave yet?" Klipse asked into the communicator. Currently he was still at his laboratory, watching closely over the readings of the monsuno energy as Hargrave was out surveying for him.

"Not yet sir," his butler responded, the communicator surprisingly scratchy, "It appears that anything left from the wavelength is gone, and S.T.O.R.M. troops are here in the desert as well."

Dr. Klipse frowned. Of course Charlemagne would be on top of things. All those troops to her disposal so willing to bend over for her. Well, almost all of them.

"… There's something else sir." Dr. Klipse looked up with mild interest.

"What is it?"

"It seems that Chase Suno and his friends have been spotted in the area. And it seems that they were here _before_ the spike in energy took place," Hargrave said.

"I see..." Dr. Klipse said, a rather sinister smile appearing on his lips, "Then I expect you know what to do?"

"Of course sir. I’m sure your son can handle it."

~*~*~*~

Bren was pulled up from the water, desperately taking in air. With a quick glance around, he saw that it was a wider, calmer part of the river that they had washed up on. Dax dumped him on onto the shore. The first thing Bren did was deposit his bag to see if the Core Tablet was damaged. Luckily, Dr. Suno made it sturdy enough to last a nuclear explosion. He sighed in relief, and sat back for a moment as he recalled the last few minutes.

When they all fell into the river, everything moved so fast. Tossed and thrown through all the waves and against rocks. Bren remembered being able to see everyone bobbing along trying to stay afloat, but also how hard it was for himself to stay above the water (he was never good at sports, much less swimming). 

At the time, Bren thought he was gonna get pulled under, never to see the light of day again. Luckily, Dax kept a firm hand on his jacket, pulling him up every so often. He was the one who dragged Bren out of the water, immediately running back to the water's edge.

Bren glanced around to see the others close by. Jinja was coughing violently, hunched over on the ground, while Beyal was sitting nearby, staring out at the river with a blank expression. Dax was still standing in the water, his coat tossed off to the side as he kept surveying out over the water. He suddenly leapt back in, leaving them all on the river bank. It was then that Bren realized that there was no sign of Chase.

The last thing he remembered was standing right next to him as the cliff collapsed below. He doubted that Chase was too far off, but that wasn't a comforting thought.

"Jinja, did you see Chase?" he asked, looking over. Jinja looked downright sick as she turned over to him, bumps and scratches all over her arms and parts of her face. Bren could feel the bumps and scratched he got now that he was out of the water. Oddly enough, Beyal seemed completely fine.

There was a loud splash, and they all turned to see Dax pulling Chase out of the river, unmoving.

"C-Chase!" Jinja choked out, stumbling over to his side. Dax set him on the ground. Chase was unresponsive and extremely pale with just as many bruises and cuts as the rest of them. Bren crawled over, trying to steady his own breath. He felt his hands start to quiver as he listened for a breath.

He didn't hear one.

"I-I don't think he's breathing!" Bren said shakily. Jinja instantly paled, and stumbled to his side. Wasting no time, Dax went to Chase's other side and immediately started to give chest compressions.

"C'mon baby Suno! Don't do this now!" He huffed. Bren could hear his own heart thumping in his ears, only able to watch and wait for some sort of sign.

"Chase..." Jinja muttered, her eyes cast downcast. Bren clenched his fists. If only they weren't blind-sighted, maybe he could've helped fight off the Punk Monks, or even those monsuno...

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked to see Beyal. He had an unreadable expression, but for some reason Bren found it reassuring. There was something about the way his eyes gleamed that felt... mesmerizing. In fact, they almost looked like they were _glowing._

"I don't think it's working," Dax said grimly, slowing his compressions after a few seconds. Bren started to panic.

"Well, what do we do?!" Bren asked. Dax bit his lip.

"Someone's going to have to give him mouth to mouth."

There was a stunned silence before their eyes fell on Jinja. Instantly, the color came back to her face in a raging blush.

"W-why are you looking at me! You know how to do CPR better than I can," she stammered, eyes going back and forth between Bren and Dax.

"Princess, I think you can spare one kiss of life," Dax said, earning a look of horror from Jinja. Bren's cheeks start to heat up at the comment. "Now c'mon. We don't have time to waste."

"Listen Dax, I don't think that-" Jinja suddenly trailed off, eyes wide and fixed back on Chase as her blush intensified. Both Bren and Dax turned to see Beyal leaning down, lips pressed against Chase’s. They all stared open mouthed. Bren was the first to squeak out a response.

“B-Beyal-ah-Dax was just kidding about-”

Suddenly, Chase's leg twitched. The second Beyal pulled away Chase’s eyes shot open.

They all jumped as he bolted up and doubled over, coughing up water. 

"W-We m-made it..." he panted, coughing violently again before he settled down on the ground. None of them made a move, even when he drifted off into sleep. Soon, Chase started to lightly snore, unknowing of what had just happened. Jinja and Bren sighed in relief, shoulders slumping as they finally relaxed.

But Dax kept his eyes focused on Beyal.

Beyal was sitting still, eyes fixed on Chase. There was a coldness in his gaze, as if there was something missing from it. There was a glint of green that was there as well, though that could've just been the light.

"Oi, monkfish-." Dax paused when Beyal’s eyes flitted to him. Something didn't sit right with him in the way Beyal was looking right now. It was as if it was someone else entirely. Beyal's eyes stayed on Dax. The other teen shivered a bit, unnerved by the strange look within his eyes, as if he would jump up and attack him within a second. Bren flailed his arms around.

“A-Uh. A-Anyway. Let’s make camp!" Bren said, trying to fight the blush on his cheeks away, “I don't think any of us are ready to get moving so soon. Y’know?"

"It's about two or so hours before sunset, but I think it'll get colder and darker down here faster," Jinja said, standing up and brushing herself off. They all looked ragged at this point, and would definitely benefit from some rest, "I suggest we start a fire and get our clothes dry before that happens."

Dax didn't budge, and neither did Beyal, who finally looked away.

"...Dax? Beyal?" Bren asked, removing his bag from his shoulder, "You guys gonna help at all?"

Beyal stood up quickly to turn away. Immediately, Dax took a hold of his wrist before he could leave.

"Dax? Is there something wrong?" Jinja asked, walking back towards them. He could feel Beyal shaking within his grasp. Dax's eyes narrowed.

"... Who are you really?"

Jinja took a step closer, “What are you talking about Dax?”

“That’s not Beyal.”

 _"_ What do you mean? Of course that's Beyal," Bren said, walking over to them. Dax had yet to loosen his grip.

"Oh I don't think so, Glasses," Dax said, "Do you honestly think Beyal would be able to help raise Baby Suno back from the dead. He didn't even..."

Dax blushed a bit, trying to say something about air but shook his head instead. Bren shuffled his feet, not sure what to say.

"Dax, you're being ridiculous," Jinja said, standing next to Bren, "Let's just get back to setting up camp. It's starting to get really cold out here!"

Dax growled under his breath, and took hold of Beyal's shoulder. When he turned around, Beyal had a confused look on his face, eyes wide and blinking with concern. There was a faint distant look in his eyes that was fading away, and the glow had disappeared as well.

"Dax?... Where are we?" he asked, scratching his head. Dax's eyes widened in surprise, and released Beyal's shoulder. Dax took a step back as Jinja and Bren took a few steps forward.

"Beyal? Yooou okay over there?" Jinja asked. There was a beeping, and Bren immediately lost interest as his attention was drawn back down to the Core Tablet. It had finally gotten a small signal, which meant they would be able to contact Dr. Suno soon and get out of this place.

"I am... not sure... where are we? And why is Chase on the ground?" Beyal asked wearily, looking around.

"You mean you don't remember the whole fighting off evil monsuno, taking a dip, and-" Bren started, then blushed again. When he looked up, he saw Jinja shooting him a look. "What? Why are you looking at me like-"

"Beyal!"

When they both turned around, Beyal was falling forward, his legs giving out beneath him. Dax ran forward, letting Beyal fall against his chest. His arms were wrapped loosely around the smaller teen’s shoulders, unsure of how to respond.

"Dax, what happened?" Jinja asked frantically, running over. Bren had jumped back up as well and followed suit.

"I don't know! He suddenly got this weird look and fell over!" Dax said quickly. When they looked at his face, Bren and Jinja could see Beyal's cheeks flushed red, his eyes closed, and face contorting in pain.

~*~*~*~

Commandant Marshall Charlemagne leaned back in her seat. Her fingers tapped at the desk impatiently. Finally, the door opened.

“Commandant-”

“Save it Commander Trey,” she said, “Was the file received?”

Trey nodded, “Yes. And according to the last readings we got, Suno’s group was on their way towards the desert.”

“Perfect.” Charlemagne smirked. She turned to the intercom.

"ATTENTION!" she said, her voice booming, "WE ARE CHANGING COURSE TO ZE SOUTH EASTERN BASE. WE ARE TO BE THERE BY TOMORROW MORNING!" There was a click and the intercom went silent.

"Put me through to ze Strike Squad!" Charlemagne demanded, receiving a salute from one of the soldiers before Alpha showed up on the screen. He gave a salute.

"Commandant-"

"Save it!" She huffed, "Suno will be arriving at the base soon. Make sure that you do not fail zis time! Otherwise none of you will be leaving S.T.O.R.M. headquarters!” 

“O-Of course,” Alpha said, then cleared his throat, “You can count on me and my squad!”

“I had better,” Charlemagne said. The screen clicked off. She turned to Trey. “Go ahead in one of the cloud hoppers to the base. I don’t trust them to take care of zis.”

Trey gave a salute before leaving. As the door closed, Charlemagne cast a quick glance to her desk before rising and gazing out the windows of the cloud carrier. She wouldn't let Jeredy's brat get away this time. Not after humiliating her with that stunt with the train. No. Instead, she was going to let them come to her.

~*~*~*~

After they had finally gotten a fire started, Bren tried to get a stable signal on the Core Tablet. They situated themselves in a cave as wide as the shore of the river. The shore’s flow much calmer, enough so that they could wade in it quite a few feet outward before it got too deep. The cave also led inward to a tunnel, though none of them felt inclined to explore.

"Hey Bren." 

He looked up. Jinja had managed to get some fish from the river and had it cooking over the fire.

"What is it Jinja?" he asked as she flipped over one of the fish.

"Do you think... Well... That there's something wrong over there?" she asked looking off to their side. Chase was still out of it from before, and was lying close by the fire with them. But Beyal was lying further away, Dax watching over him.

"Not really. I think Dax is just being a little paranoid at the moment," Bren said, looking back down to the tablet. "Why? Is he getting to you?"

"N-no. It's just that... What Dax said before... About that not really being Beyal..."

"I honestly think we just need to get out of this rotten desert," Bren said, "It does stuff to the mind. And I don't think you've noticed, but Dax isn't exactly the brightest bulb in the closet."

Jinja sighed, "Again, Bren, you're thinking of yourself" 

"Yeah sure. Blame the guy who's about to get us out of here," Bren mumbled. The signal for the Core Tablet was almost strong enough to send a message, he just need to-

"Chase!" 

Bren immediately glanced up at the mention of his best friend. On the other side of the fire, Chase had finally stirred for the first time in hours. Bren and Jinja scooted closer to his side.

"How're you feeling?" Bren finally said after a moment.

"Why does it feel like I was tossed around in a washing machine..." Chase said under his breath, then noticed the two, "Uh... Hey B. Jin."

"Geez Chase. Give us all a heart attack will you," Jinja remarked. Chase gave her an exhausted smile, and looked around the cave.

"Uh… Where are we?"

"Well, we're still in the desert if that's what you're wondering," Bren said. Now that he had a good look at them, Chase could see Bren and Jinja looking a little on the unkept side. Both of their hair was sticking out in some places, and their clothes were damp with little rips and tears in some places. They all sported cuts and bruises all over.

"Basically we fell into the river over the cliff," Jinja said, shrugging lightly.

"I could gather that much," Chase said, and glanced over to the fire. He could see their coats lying next to it, still drying. His eyes trailed off over to the side where he could see Dax. "What's going on over there?"

"Beyal passed out after...Uh..." Bren trailed off, his cheeks going red. Jinja had to clear her throat.

"Chase. Uh. You weren't breathing so… Uh..." Jinja said, fidgeting. Chase had a blank look as the bridge of her nose also flushed, "Uh… Let’s just say Beyal ended up doing... _something_ that helped you-"

"But I'm pretty sure he used some mystic mumbo jumbo or something! It’s not like he did anything w-weird o-or-" Bren said quickly, getting an angry look from Jinja. "… Why do you keep looking at me like that? I swear it's like you wanna- Ow!"

Chase stared over them at the river for a moment as Jinja pummeled Bren's shoulder. 

" _North of here is the entrance to the ruins of the five tribes. We must go back before_ they _do."_

Chase held his breath when he remembered those words again, eyes lingering on Dax and Beyal. Without saying anything, he stood up and walked right over. Dax jumped a bit when he saw Chase, but didn't say anything. Chase sat on the other side of Beyal, who opened his eyes a little wearily.

"C-Chase...?" He mumbled. His eyes were unfocused, sweat rolling down his flushed cheeks.

"Beyal, I need to know what you meant by going north. What did you mean? What's up North?" Chase asked seriously. There was a silence as everyone exchanged confused looks. Beyal blinked slowly.

"...I... Don't understand..." He panted out. Chase frowned, then finally realized the strange look in Beyal's eyes was gone. It was hard to tell with his eyes half open the way they were, but the murderous stare clearly wasn't there. Chase cleared his throat uncomfortably when he felt everyone looking at him with concern.

"Um... What I meant to ask was, what do you last remember?" He asked. Beyal continued to stare for a moment, then lowered his gaze a bit. Chase could feel everyone's eyes going back and forth between them as they spoke.

"You and Bren were talking to Drezz... He... Gave you something...?" Chase blinked, and remembered the jump drive. He patted his pockets, finding only a few coins and a foil candy wrapper.

"Bren, grab my jacket and look in the pockets," he said. Bren held up the Core Tablet for everyone to see, a smile spreading on his face.

"I was already on it. And it looks like Dr. Tallis is wanting us to go down south towards one of the S.T.O.R.M bases," Bren said, pulling up the map. It had a large dot where they were, and another one farther down that was blinking. Bren suddenly got a serious look, "Apparently they sighted some sort of new monsuno a few hours ago, which was what Drezz was probably talking about. According to the S.T.O.R.M. report it is- was... similar to Quickforce."

Chase held his breath, and everyone's eyes immediately fell as Bren grew silent. It had been months since Quickforce had to sacrifice itself to save them, but it was clear that Bren was still thinking about it. Chase pulled out Lock's core and felt the metal findings. He simply held it for a moment, watching as Lock's energy continued to glow inside.

"… Is that all that was on the jump drive?" Chase asked hesitantly. Bren snapped out of his stupor, and tapped on the Core Tablet.

"Unfortunately, no. There was a message in some other language - ancient in fact - but it didn't match up with any pre-existing ones to decode it," Bren sighed, and held it out.

"Maybe the good doctor has finally lost it," Jinja said, looking down at the tablet. It was a picture of a stone with etchings in it. It looked familiar, but Chase couldn't place exactly where he saw it before. The stone definitely looked old with crystals embedded into it.

"Well... Anyway, I think we ought to head up north," Chase said, crossing his arms. When he looked up, everyone had gone back to staring at him, "... What?"

"Didn't you just hear Glasses?" Dax said, raising a brow, "The new monsuno is down south. And I'm pretty sure that's the opposite of north."

Chase frowned, and stood up, "You're not forgetting what happened a few hours ago when those creeps from the Hand of Destiny were up to no good. We need to focus on that, and not to mention those other monsuno that had showed up when we were facing off against the Punk Monks. And I got a feeling they’re heading north."

Chase was still holding onto Lock's core, and gripped it tight as he spoke.

"Well, we're not exactly equipped to go head to head with anyone anytime soon" Jinja said, standing up as well, "The last thing we need is to be going into a fight with our guns half blazing. Especially if those rogue monsuno are still out there."

"And weren't we originally on a mission for your dad?" Bren added, and looked back down at the tablet after it started to beep again.

Chase rubbed the back of his neck, frustrated. It's true that they had come to the desert to collect samples (and they hardly even did that), but after what happened in the cave a few hours ago, it was obvious something was wrong. And with all the people involved, including the Hand of Destiny, this was spelling out trouble for everyone.

"I... think we ought to go back..." Jinja said honestly. "Chase. We should get the readings and call it a day. Bren agrees.”

“I do?-Ow! I do!” Bren whined after Jinja pulled his ear.

Chase bit his lip and looked down at Lock's core again. Lock was still antsy, no doubt worried about Chase throughout the past few hours he was out. As much as he wished to continue on and get to the bottom of things, Chase knew the wellbeing of everyone else would have to take priority.

"… Alright," he said reluctantly, putting Lock's core back onto his belt, "We'll leave at the crack of dawn."

The Hand of Destiny would have to wait for another day a little longer. _She_ would have to wait a little longer…

“Bren. Lemme borrow the core tablet.”

“Uh… Sure,” Bren said, wandering over towards the far side of the shore, “The signal is strongest here. You can probably send a message, but I don’t think you can get a full call.”

"That's fine," Chase said, quickly taking the tablet in his own hands. He cleared his voice, and started to record, "Dad. We managed to collect the samples of energy. But there has been a disturbance in monsuno energy, it appears that it may be connected to the Hands of Destiny." Chase hesitated for a moment, "...There's also these rogue monsuno that have attacked us. They might belong to the Hand, but there was something wrong about them."

The tablet started to beep, showing that they were losing the signal. Chase quickly sent the message before it went dead. Bren took it, and started to furiously tap at the screen.

"...Sorry Chase. Signal's gone," Bren sighed in defeat. Chase's eyes lingered on the tablet for a moment before he sighed as well. Bren could tell that there was a lot more Chase had wanted to say, even if he wouldn't be able to get an immediate response.

"I'm sure we could get in contact with him when we get out of the desert," Chase said reluctantly. 

It was quiet as the two walked back over to the fire. Jinja was now looking over Beyal while Dax walked off to keep watch.

"So what's really up north?" Bren asked curiously. Chase bit his lip.

"… I don't know," he said, "Call it a hunch, but I think- _know_ \- that there is something up there that has to do with the Hand of Destiny."

There was a silence between them as the fire cracked.

"Does… Does it have something to do with your mom?" Bren asked hesitantly.

"…Maybe." 

Bren waited a moment for him to say something else, but he never did. Bren cast his gaze to the ground. Chase watched for a moment more before Bren sat by the fire. Chase didn't feel like sitting down, anxiety making his stomach turn. Those strange monsuno, the Hand of Destiny, S.T.O.R.M. with the monsuno, and Dr. Tallis sending his goons on them. There was too much to sleep on.

Then there was that message that Beyal had given him, along with the visions Chase was having. He didn't want to mention it to Bren (who would have gone into immediate paranoia), and talking about it to Jinja would just cause her to worry. As much as he hated keeping things from them, Chase had to do this on his own. Neither of them could even understand what he saw that day.

Speaking of which, why _did_ he see his mother? There were never this many visions so close to each other, except a few months ago when they had to go to the Cave of Convergence. But even then, it was probably because of all the monsuno essence. It was also a little bizarre at how physical she seemed, not dreamlike but actually there near him.

… Was the answer really up North? Was she the one trying to lead him there like before?

"Oi, Chase," He looked up to see Dax standing nearby. He had a serious look, that had a hint of weariness in it from the day, "Can we have a talk?"

Chase nodded They walked away from camp along the edge of the river. It was lapping along the bank lazily, giving off a serene sound that would probably lull them to sleep.

"What is it?" Chase asked quietly. Dax hesitated for a moment, looking out to the river, then looked back at Chase.

"Before. There was something wrong with the little monkfish," he said.

Chase raised a brow, "What do you mean?"

"Ugh... I don't know. Maybe it was a play of the light or something, but when he..." Dax's cheeks grew red. He motioned at Chase. "When he did uh. 'CPR'... There was something about him that was... different." Dax looked down, and started shuffling his feet in the sand. "It was as if he was some other person..."

Chase's eyes widened at the comment, and he turned toward the river, "I... I know what you mean. When we were up on the cliff during the fight with the Punk Monks, it was as if someone was speaking through him." He turned to look at Dax, "And who ever it is, wants us to go north."

"Well, we aren't about to just go walking in like that are we? It could be a trap after all, maybe even one set up by those Hand of Destiny creeps," Dax said. Chase bit his lip. When he thought about it that way, it was obviously a trap, and clearly had them outmatched.

"I wish we could talk to Beyal about who was talking. But he's too out of it to say anything," Chase said, looking back.

"Well... Actually. He did say something in his sleep before you woke up," Dax said, looking down as he kicked up sand. "He was muttering something about the old man monk, and some sort of warning he wanted to give."

They were both silent for a moment. Chase looked out, watching the river roll by as he thought about everything. Someone - if not his mother - wants them to go north, but _why?_ And S.T.O.R.M. had a monsuno. Or it's actually some sort of trap set up by Charlemagne and Tallis (which was doubtful). Then there was the hooded people from before...

"Arg! It's just too much!" He exclaimed, scratching his head in frustration. He sighed in defeat, and turned back to Dax. "If I go north tonight, could you make sure everyone gets out of the desert?"

"Are you nuts!" Dax exclaimed, not too loudly though, "You almost kick the bucket, and now you want to leave us stranded in the middle of the desert? How are you even going to get back without the Core Tablet anyway? It's not like you can just call up Dr. Suno."

Chase licked his lips nervously. There wasn't a way he would be able to met up with everyone again until after they meet with his dad. Even then, there was no telling if or when that would happen. And if they got in trouble, he wouldn't be able to help them, and vice versa.

He let out a sigh of defeat. "I guess you’re right."

"You sure that's what you want to do? You seemed very set on finding this... Whatever it is, up north," Dax said, a little surprised at Chase's resolve. He honestly didn't want to stop, especially if it was his mother that was leading him, and would much rather go on his own if that's what it took.

"... Everyone else wants to leave. So that's what we'll do."

Chase turned to go back to camp when Dax took a hold of his wrist, "I'm serious though. I don't think we should rely too much on Beyal for directions any more. For all we know he could be influenced by whoever that was."

Chase nodded. "I guess... Until we find out who that was, we should just keep an eye on him." Dax loosened his grip, but continued to look out over the bank of the river. Chase started to walk back to camp. He wasn't entirely sure about not trusting Beyal, but at the same time, he needed to figure out what's up north.

He sat back down near the fire. Even though Dax would be on lookout for another hour, Chase still felt a bit on edge. After a moment, he just focused on the fire, watching the flames dance.


	3. Chapter 3

The full moon shone out throughout the desert, casting its glow across the dunes. Alpha stood on the edge of the rocky cliffs, looking out over the massive amounts of sand. Somewhere amongst it all were their targets.

"Hey Alpha," he turned to see X-Ray, "I picked up a small signal a few miles northwest from here. No doubt it's from Suno's crew."

Alpha went next to X-Ray, who brought up a small device. He pressed on the screen, Chase's voice coming from it. It kept fazing in and out, but it was him.

_"...There's also these rogue monsuno that have attacked us. They might belong to the Hand, but there was something wrong about them."_

The message stopped. Alpha hummed.

"Don't know what he's talking about with rogue monsuno. But regardless we found him." Alpha smirked. "Tell everyone we move out in ten."

X-Ray nodded and walked back to their camp. Alpha looked back into the desert. It hadn’t been that long since he and Chase faced off against each other in a true duel, only for it to be interrupted by Charlemange. Not to mention when Team Core Tech stole their tank. 

Alpha clutched onto Tripwire’s core. He and his team had the advantage this time. And S.T.O.R.M. wasn’t about to come between them this time. This rematch would be his.

~*~*~*~

It wasn't long after Chase started dozing off, maybe a half hour or so, did Dax wander off on his own. Not too far from the group that he wouldn't hear a big commotion, though it was already far too narrow to summon a monsuno in the part of the canyon he was walking. He went up stream for a bit, looking up at the stars glistening through the split of land.

He let out a sigh when he found himself walking further down in thought. This was way too much at the moment. Rogue monsuno, almost losing their leader, Chase wanting them to split up. Not to mention someone trying to attack them at almost every corner like S.T.O.R.M., the Punk Monks, and now these bunch of hooded creeps.

Dax sighed to himself again, "How did I even get involved in all this?" He picked up one of the flatter rocks on the shore, and skipped it on the surface of the water. He never thought he would ever be part of something as crazy as monsuno. It was even crazier that he was still around as a part of Team Core Tech.

He picked up another rock, and skipped it farther than the last and landing with a satisfying splash. He was about to pick up another rock, but stopped when he heard the crunch of pebbles from a short distance away. The path curved around the cliff back to the cave, and it was easy to hide around all the different bends.

"I know you're there," he simply stated. There was no response. Carefully, he sidestepped along so his footsteps couldn't be heard as easily. He waited until he heard another footstep, and pounced out around the corner, tackling someone down to the ground with a yelp. Immediately, he panicked when he saw the familiar orange hair.

"Geez, Dax. You're so paranoid!" Jinja said, pushing him off. She dusted off her pants as she stood, frowning at him as she did so, "Just came to say it's my turn for watch duty, but I couldn't find you at the lookout."

"Oh. Right. Sorry," He said, standing. She studied him for a moment, but didn't say anything.

"What were you even doing out here?" Jinja asked, more out of curiosity than suspicion.

"What's it to you?" he said, shoving his hands into his pockets, "Just thinking is all."

"Oh," She said, and awkwardly looked to the ground.

"… Anyway we should probably head back before something happens," Dax said, taking a few steps forward, "By the way, how's Beyal doin?"

"Fine," Jinja frowned, walking ahead of him "Well, his fever hasn't gone, but other than that nothing's been happening."

Dax expected as much. There was always the chance that the _thing_ from before would come back and take over the monk. And the last thing they need was to be fighting him, especially since it seemed so vicious.

"And Chase?" Dax asked. They started to slowly make their way back, going around another curve in the path. It turns out Dax had wandered a lot farther than he initially thought, not being able to see the campfire at all.

"He's just sleeping. I'm surprised considering how much he got earlier," Jinja said, and suddenly stopped walking.

"… What is it?" He asked, tensing up in case she saw something ahead of them. Instead, she turned back at him.

"It's... Just a little weird," she said, a smile forming on her lips.

"What? That Chase is sleeping a lot? I'm surprised that we haven't clocked out either-"

"That's not what I meant," Jinja chuckled, "I meant with you being so caring lately. It isn't like you to be so invested in everyone."

A blush started to form on Dax's cheeks, "Erg... It's not like I'm doing it on purpose. I'd just be bad if we get stuck here longer."

Jinja chuckled a bit, "Yeah I suppose..."

"... Is that all? You seem like you want to say something else" Dax asked, crossing his arms. Jinja turned away a bit. Her eyes fell to the ground as she traced circles with her foot.

"I... Wanted to say. Thanks."

He raised a brow, "What for?"

"Well... You were the one who dragged Chase out of the river," She said earnestly, "And before all this you were looking after the rest of us when he fainted back in the cave when we saw those people."

"Again, just trying to keep everyone in good shape," Dax said. In reality he really didn't do much at all. Why was Jinja putting so much thought into this?

"I know, but lately…" Jinja bit her lip, "It's just that... Chase gets a little frustrating to deal with sometimes. Even when half of us are wanting to go back, he wants to push forward..."

"Oh come now princess. He's not all like that," Dax said, but stopped himself. Why was he even talking to her about Baby Suno? It's not like he actually cared about what Jinja thought about the others.

"Oh he is," Jinja continued, "He's always been the leader type of guy, ever since we were kids."

Dax's gaze lowered. Sometimes he forgot about how the three of them were close friends. Sure the five of them had been getting close this past year, but there were still times he felt like an outcast. He decided it would be best to drop the conversation entirely, and took a step forward so that he and Jinja could get back to the others.

And that's when their lips met.

Dax’s eyes were wide .

There was a surprised flash in Jinja's eyes, but instead of pulling away she sighed into the kiss. His hands stayed hovering, unsure of where to put them.

While he did fancy Jinja a little, it was obvious she liked to bounce between him and Beyal. Remembering that, Dax’s hands finally found her shoulders and harshly pushed her away. 

"What do you think you're doing?!" He hissed. She blinked for a moment, not understanding. He turned away with a blush on his cheeks, hands still gripping her shoulders, albeit shakily, "You... Why would you..."

"... Dax. I..." She took a breath and turned away. She shook his hands away with a huff. "You know what? Just forget it. It's not like it matters any way."

"Oh. It's like that is it? I'm not up to par for you or something?" Dax scoffed, "Well, I guess I'm sorry for disappointing you if I can't measure up to your little monkfish."

She felt her cheeks redden, both from embarrassment and anger. "What do you even know anyway? You're just some punk who cheats people." 

"Maybe princess," Dax said, and walked past her, "But at least I’m upfront with people. You can't even find the gull to outright say your feelings, to _any_ of us."

With that, Dax turned on his heel with his hands stuffed into his pockets. He walked briskly along the shore away from camp, not wanting to say anything else to Jinja. It'd be awkward tomorrow, but who cares? He'd just blow some steam, go back and catch a few Z’s-

He heard a hum in the distance. Dax recognized it as the sound of helicopters. Looking up to the sky, spotlights could be seen faintly in the sky. Looks like S.TO.R.M. was on their way. At least they were safe down here.

As that thought passed his mind, Dax felt the ground suddenly shake. Back towards camp, the sound of a monsuno giving out a loud roar could be heard.

~*~*~*~

The Punk Monks set up their camp on the edge of the cliff some ways away from where Suno and his group had washed up. They kept watch throughout the night in case that group decided to leave, which didn't seem likely from the look of things.

"It looks to me like they're planning on ambushing Suno and his crew." Throttle said. Drezz looked over his shoulder. She and the rest of the Punk Monks were looking over the cliff, surveying the area. Drezz went over to the three of them. On the farther side of the cliffs he spotted what appeared to be S.T.O.R.M. troops trying to find Suno, dressed in bright white suits.

Even though the good doctor paid them to keep Suno out of S.T.O.R.M.'s hands until they could get a hold of that new monsuno, he wasn't about to go head first into things without a plan. At this point it was better to go unnoticed unless things got bad.

"I'm sure that Suno can handle it," Drezz said, sitting down and leaning back. "I doubt that he'll really need us to swoop in to save him."

"Yo boss," Tinker said, who was looking in the opposite direction.

Drezz let out a sigh, "What is it now?"

"It looks like there's one more after Suno and his crew. He don't look like he’s from S.T.O.R.M. though..."

Drezz stood up, and looked over the side, swiping the binoculars from Tinker's hands. Sure enough, there was a guy in a red jacket walking around the edge of the cliffs towards Suno’s camp.

"Well would you look at that," Drezz said under his breath, "Looks like everyone wants a piece of the action. But this doesn't change anything." 

Drezz tossed the binoculars back. "Keep watch on them. If Suno gets caught that might even be an advantage-”

“S.T.O.R.M.’s coming,” Throttled said, looking out to the desert. Lights could be seen in the sky. “They’re probably gonna be here in… An hour? They’re going pretty fast.”

“Probably those soldiers down there giving the location,” Ratchet said, “Guess we gotta go down there after all. Drezz?”

Drezz hummed in thought. Eventually he sighed and stood up, “Fine. The second the soldiers try and get the jump we take em out and ‘commandeer’ one of their choppers. Might as well see what this monsuno looks like for ourselves!”

~*~*~*~

"Stupid Dax!" Jinja cursed, pacing back and forth and she furiously ran her hands through her hair. “'Why did I think any differently-Argh! I’m so stupid!” 

Once, shortly after they all met, she had thought that maybe there was something else to Dax, that he wasn't just some delinquent from the desert. And that _maybe,_ he would eventually become their friend.

She sighed, eventually stopping to take a breath. No. This wasn't his fault. It was hers.

Well. Looks like she’d just have to apologize. Or just ignore it.

"..." She tapped her foot on the ground. “Yeah. Just ignore it.”

“Ignore what?”

She turned to the new voice, expecting Chase who was next for look out.

She blinked in surprise to see Six instead.

Jinja stared openly at the clone for five seconds before hopping back a few feet, grabbing a core. 

"Wh-what do you want?" She demanded. He had a rather passive look on his face, and held his hands up to show he meant no harm, but she wasn't going to take that chance.

"I came here to find Chase Suno and defeat him," Six stated, “My father wishes it.”

"Oh, right. Your father," Jinja said, rolling her eyes a bit. No doubt Dr. Klipse was having one of his loony experiments again, "Let me guess. He sent you to come get Chase so he can make that monsuno-human hybrid, hm?"

Six shuffled his feet uncomfortably. Jinja did have a menacing stare when she needed it, and man was she letting him have it.

"Actually... I need Chase's help."

Jinja raised a brow in suspicion.

"Well... You see. Ever since I lost to him, father has been rather... impatient with me," Six said, staring at his feet, "And I know if I can bring Chase Suno to him, then maybe father will see me differently."

"Trust me buddy. Dr. Klipse isn't the kind of guy to change immediately," Jinja said, waving her hand absently around, "Besides, you're better off without him in your life."

Six was silent at the comment, still looking down at his feet anxiously. "He is all that I've had," he murmured softly, "Sometimes it feels like Chase Suno is taking my father away from me..." 

His hands clenched into fists, and Jinja watched his reactions like a hawk. If things turned south fast, she wouldn't hesitate to show Six a thing or two. His hands unclenched, and he looked up with a perplexed look. "What was that by the way?"

"What was what?" She huffed.

"That thing that you and that other boy did a moment ago. Where your lips touched each other," Six said, pointed at his own mouth.

"Y-you mean a kiss?" Jinja asked flustered. Six held a serious look before nodding slowly. She honestly had to fight the urge to laugh. Of course Dr. Klipse wouldn't bother explaining the basics of love to his clone. The man didn't have an ounce of it to spare.

"Well... Usually when one person wants to express their strong feelings to another, t-they give them a-a kiss," Jinja explained, twiddling her thumbs as she spoke. Six had a vacant expression as she spoke.

"Were you mad at him?"

"Oh believe me, I am more than mad at him now," Jinja snapped, crossing her arms tightly. If Dax ever brought it up, then he'd be more than sorry.

"So... To express my hate towards Chase Suno, I should kiss him," Six stated.

Now Jinja couldn't hold in her laughter.

"What's so funny?" He asked monotonously as Jinja held her side, bursting with laughter.

"It's- It's nothing!" She giggled out. After a moment, she cleared her throat, "It's just that. Usually a kiss is used to express _love_ and attraction to another person. Not anger."

"Oh... I guess that would warrant laughter," Six said, almost sadly. It got awkwardly silent, and she suddenly had a shard of guilt as she stood there.

Luckily, a sudden explosion ended that silence.

'That sounded close,' Jinja thought, then gasped, 'Guys!'

"What did you do?!" She exclaimed, pulling out Charger's core. Before Six could answer, there was a loud cry in the distance. It sounded like a monsuno, but it wasn't too familiar. Six raised his hands defensively.

"N-nothing!" He stammered, "I just came here to find Chase. I came alone I promise!"

There was another boom in the distance, followed by more shrieking.

Six shifted from foot to foot. "I don't mean to fight- that is unless you want to- but only if you want to! But if you're going to find him that can wait until later, that is if I can go with you-"

"Agh! I don't have time for you," Jinja said and charged right past Six, ignoring most of his ramblings. When she was a few paces away, she turned back to see that he wasn't following her oddly enough. He just stood where she left him, and continued to watch her for a moment. She got a chill from the lifeless look he was giving her. She almost wanted to go back and battle him, if only to get that annoying look off his face.

However, the sound of Lock in the distance reminded her of the others.

She looked back towards the direction of their camp, and started running forward again. She could still feel Six's eyes lingering on her, but knew that he wouldn't follow. After all, he wasn't looking for a fight. Even when he mentioned Chase, there was some resentment in his voice, but there was also something else.

Something more sorrowful.

~*~*~*~

He woke up from the sound of an annoying beeping. Bren groaned as he groped for the Core Tablet. It went silent on its own after a minute, meaning it was probably just low on batteries. He stiffly sat up and lazily put his glasses back on.

"I am so looking forward to a regular bed again," he yawned, stretching out his sore muscles. Usually they would've at least had sleeping bags, or even stayed at some inn, but with all their supplies lost the cold hard ground was their only choice, "What about you Jin?"

He had to blink a few times to realize that the only ones around were Chase and Beyal, who were both still asleep.

"Jinja? Dax?" He called out. There was no response. Where did they go?

'They're probably hitting the can or something,' Bren thought to himself, reaching out to get the Core tablet once more. Maybe it would work better now that it got the chance to dry off. Bren wandered over to the part of the shore where there would be a signal, dully glancing down at the screen as it powered on.

That's when he noticed something in the reflection. When he squinted, it almost looked like someone was standing on the cliff above them-

"Tripwire! Launch!"

Suddenly, there was a burst of yellow light erupting from above, followed by a loud splash that left Bren soaked. When he finally wiped his glasses off, Bren was face to face with a rather familiar monsuno.

"Oh crag..."

The beast roared out at him, causing the whole cavern to shake and Bren to fall over. Chase immediately shot up, stumbling to his feet to stand.

"Wha-What's going on?!" He half mumbled half shouted. The second Chase saw the monsuno, he reached for his cores. As soon as Bren got back onto his feet, he followed suit.

"Deepsix!"

"Longfang!"

"Launch!"

With a burst of blue light, all three monsuno were now fighting it out in the shallows of the river. There was almost no room outside for them to fight without hitting the sides of the cliff, and every movement caused either a shower of water or the cliffs to quake.

"Bren, try to keep them in the center of the canyon!" Chase shouted, and suddenly had a panicked look on his face. "Wait! Where's Jinja and Dax?"

"I don't know! I just woke up, and the next thing you know I'm face to face with this monster!" Bren exclaimed. The sound of laughter drew their attention. Standing on some of the rock formations on the opposite side was the S.T.O.R.M. Strike Squad.

"Hey there Suno! Ready for a rematch?" Alpha boasted as the rest of his team brought out their cores.

"Only if you're ready to get your butt kicked for the third time!" Chase smirked, "Deepsix, terra torpedo!"

His monsuno roared out before diving down below the river, ramming up into Tripwire. While most monsuno fought in the air and land, Deepsix outmatched them all in the water.

"Strike Squad! Launch!"

Another burst of yellow light, and four more monsuno were clashing with Deepsix and Longfang. They were now seriously outmatched. Bren cast Chase a worrying look, but he was too caught up in the fight. It wasn't until two of the monsuno crashed into the cliffs above them did Bren notice how the cave was now shaking horribly.

"Chase!" He finally pipped up, "The cave could collapse any second, we have to get out of here!"

Bren didn't wait for a reply, and started throwing what little they had left of supplies into his bag. He immediately ran over to Beyal's side, who hadn't awoken, despite all the noise. "C'mon, Beyal! Rise and Shine! Let's go!"

Beyal's eyes slowly eased open. He still had reddened cheeks, and when he sat up he swayed a lot.

"... Bren? What's going on...?" He huffed out. There was another explosion, and Chase was suddenly thrown back next to them. He shook his head for a moment before noticing where he landed.

"Strike Squad, we gotta get out of here. You think you can walk?" He asked quickly. Beyal nodded slowly, but struggled to stand. As soon as he got to his feet, his legs gave out. Luckily, Bren caught him before he could fall.

"I think that's a no," Bren retorted. Both Longfang and Deepsix were being thrown about like nothing between the five other monsuno. Chase growled a bit under his breath, and ran back to give commands.

The cave quaked again. Longfang crashed into the cliffs and slumped down onto the ground. It barely dodged the blasts that flew by, but before it could counter, Blockade and Deadfall tackled it into the water. Bren wanted to run out and try to help, but still had Beyal half slung on his shoulder. Not to mention that Jinja and Dax were who-knows-where.

"Oi! Suno!"

They both looked up back to Alpha, who was tossing his core absently into the air.

"As much as I like seeing you squirm, you better start getting serious before we take out the whole canyon!"

"Don't worry your pretty head off," Chase smirked, and quickly ran back out into the shallows of the river, "I'm always ready to take you on."

Alpha frowned deeply, and turned to the other members of the Strike Squad. He said something to them, and they all started to give commands to their monsuno. Blockade threw Longfang back at the entrance of the cave towards Bren and Beyal, and hit the ground before disappearing. Bren held his core out, gritting his teeth in frustration.

The other monsuno started to barrage the entrance with blasts, making it come down. Immediately, Bren half dragged Beyal further up into the cave, only looking back to see Chase still standing out in the middle of the river. In fact, it almost looked like he didn't _notice_ the cavern collapsing.

"Chase!" Bren shouted over the shower of rocks, but quickly lost sight of him entirely as the entrance was blocked, trapping him and Beyal on the inside of the cave.

Bren quickly ran over to where the entrance once was (half throwing Beyal to the side as he did so), and tried to pry some of the rocks out of the way. He barely moved three before realizing how hopeless it was.

He sank to the ground, knowing that Chase was now facing down the Strike Squad on his own. Which also meant that S.T.O.R.M. would most likely be on their way by now! Bren looked at the pile of rocks all around again. He could try to spin out Neo-Quickforce, but then the cave could collapse further. And on top of that, Jinja and Dax were still nowhere to be seen. Unless...

He turned back around. Beyal was sitting on the ground half awake a few feet away from the tunnel that led inward. The group had all agreed not to go in (at least until the morning), but at this point it seemed like the only way out. Or it was the way that Jinja and Dax had gone.

Bren grumbled a little as he went back to Beyal’s side. He wasn't sure about going blindly into some tunnel without knowing where it went, or leaving Chase to fight on his own. But what could he do? Wait for S.T.O.R.M. to come dig them out? There was no way he was going to sit around on the sidelines with his best friend out fighting on his own.

"...Well, let's go," Bren muttered, more to himself as walked back over and half dragged Beyal to his feet up the slope into the tunnel.


	4. Chapter 4

Chase's eyes lingered on the remains of the cave entrance. He knew full well that Bren was capable of getting out (if not him than Beyal), and would only take a few minutes before spinning out a monsuno to break through the rubble. Either that or he would sit tight and wait for the battle to be over. After all, Chase beat Alpha before and would probably have the same result. 

"Hey Alpha! You ready for that rematch?" Chase shouted, wadding in the river. He could see the red-haired teen still standing on one of the cliffs, though it looked like it would give out soon.

"So you’re ready to battle Suno?" Alpha boasted. He jumped down, landing in the deeper part of the river. He still wore that smirk as he emerged and ran his hands through his wet hair. "What do you think? One on one? I’ll even keep Tripwire out as a handicap."

"You’re gonna regret that for sure," Chase said, knowing he could use Alpha’s ego to his advantage. Instead of going for the easy victory and outnumbering him with the rest of the Strike Squad, Alpha was the kind of guy to let his pride get the best of him.

Alpha snapped his fingers, and the rest of his team called back their monsuno. Chase did the same for Deepsix. 

“Lock. Launch!”

The polar bear monsuno appeared with a roar, staring down Tripwire, who hissed back.

"First one to be called back is the loser," Alpha said, "Tripwire! Plasma Repeater!"

“Lock dive down!”

Blasts were shot out, narrowly missing Lock. Chase gripped onto the core, connecting to the monsuno. Lock jumped out from behind Tripwire, dragging it into the deeper part of the river. Chase took the opportunity to look and see if Jinja or Dax had shown up.

Tripwire and Lock appeared from the water. Chase looked to Lock’s core. A little over half the time left.

"Terra Barrage!" Alpha called out. Tripwire charged up for an attack, but Lock swiftly dodged. 

“Power Harness!”

Glowing bright, Lock slammed the other monsuno back into the cliff, giving a roar of victory when Tripwire slumped down.

"Told you I could kick your can for the third time!" Chase exclaimed as Tripwire got to its feet and charged back at Lock, both falling into the water. Alpha grit his teeth in anger, seeing the difficulty that his monsuno was having.

"Tripwire! Regroup this way!"

Chase grinned, knowing that his victory was to be expected. As soon as Alpha was taken care of, he could get Bren and Beyal out and go look for Jinja and Dax.

What he wasn't expecting was the blast that came from above, hitting both of the other monsuno. In a flash of yellow, Tripwire was summoned back.

"Alpha! Up there!" 

Both Chase and Alpha looked up to where the blast came from to see a monsuno with an eerie white glow standing on one of the ledges above them. Chase squinted, and recognized it as the rogue jackal monsuno from before. It leapt out gracefully before glowing bright as it crashed into Lock.

"Lock!" Chase called out, but saw Lock slowly being dragged down under into the river. Lock thrashed about, desperately trying to get out of the other monsuno's grasp. Chase could hear Alpha's teammates calling out to their leader, who was now watching with wide eyes.

Lock burst out of the water, almost landing on Chase as he threw the monsuno off and onto the rubble of the cave entrance. It hissed out at them both, before letting out an ear-piercing screech. Chase gripped onto his ears, feeling them still ring after it had stopped.

"What's going on Suno?!" Alpha yelled out. 

“It’s a rogue monsuno!” Chase shouted back, “We saw it-”

“ _Chase.”_

He stopped. A cold chill went up his back. That voice! Chase glanced around, trying to find any trace of his mother or some sort of sign.

The monsuno gave out another hiss before charging at Lock once more, snapping Chase out of his daze. Luckily, it was thrown to the side by Charger.

"Chase!" 

He looked over to see Jinja running from the shore..

"Jinja! Great. We can get out of here," Chase said, glancing over to the battle still ensuing. On the other side he saw Alpha going back up the cliffs to his other teammates. "Where's Dax?"

A blush streaked across Jinja's cheeks, "I- uh... thought he was with you guys." She glanced around. "Wait. Where's Bren? And Beyal?"

"Alpha blasted the entrance to the cave, so they're probably still trapped inside if they haven't gone into the tunnels yet ," Chase said, as Lock gave out a roar when the other monsuno hissed out, "They had us outnumbered, so I challenged Alpha to a one on one battle." He shrugged his shoulders, "As you can see: I won."

Jinja rolled her eyes, "That's great and all, but we need to find the others before S.T.O.R.M. gets here!"

Unfortunately for them, it was too late. Spotlights flashed as the S.T.O.R.M. copters flew overhead, blinding them. Before they knew it, S.T.O.R.M. soldiers were swooping down on them.

“ _Chase.”_

He turned around. He couldn’t see her, but he could still hear his mother’s voice so clearly.

"M... Where-"

“ _Chase. Come North. I’m waiting for you.”_

Even with all the chaos going around, Chase stopped and held his breath. His mother.

She was _here_?

~*~*~*~

The troops swooped in quickly, taking everyone by surprise. Alpha growled, climbing back up to the tops of the cliffs.

"Alpha!" 

The strike squad ran to him. Immediately, Alpha turned with anger.

"How did they get here so fast?" he exclaimed, "Who told them where we were! This was supposed to be _my_ rematch!"

None of them said anything, and Alpha cursed. This was now the second time that Charlemagne had interrupted the match between him and Chase. The only reason he changed course was because they tracked Team Core Tech here.

"Uh... Alpha." He turned around to see Bravo looking sheepishly at his feet. He held out the communicator, "It's Commandant Marshall Charlemagne."

Alpha pinched the bridge of his nose knowing what was to come, but took it anyway. As much as he hated it, she was their commander.

"… Ma'am?"

"WHY DID YOU NOT CONTACT ME YET? I 'AVE TROOPS SAYING ZAT ZEY 'AD YOU ON ZE MAP, SITTING AROUND WATCHING!"

Alpha winced at the heavy accented yelling that was blasting in his ear.

"Um... could you repeat that Ma'am?" He asked timidly. He heard Commandant Charlemagne huff, and then clear her throat.

"Tell me. Why is it zat when I send you all - the best zat S.T.O.R.M. has to offer - to do one task, it takes you all night. But when I send my troops, zey get things done within a 'alf 'our?"

Alpha opened his mouth, but couldn't find an answer. It was true that they had been watching over the group for a few hours now, and only attacked when Alpha saw two of his friends wander off on their own. Unfortunately, that was going to be the best time to strike, seeing that no one in the group would leave Chase alone. Alpha's jaw clicked shut.

"... It appears that we no longer need your services for all things concerning Chase Suno," she said, "Report back to headquarters. We'll deal with your punishment later."

"B-but Ma'am!" She hung up on him before he could even argue. Alpha stared blankly down at the communicator for a moment, before handing it back to Bravo.

"… So now what do we do?" Tango asked. Chase and his friends were fairing decently between the soldiers and the monsuno that appeared out of nowhere, but it wouldn't last much longer. Alpha brushed past them all, intending on sitting far back in their cloud hopper until this was all-

A howl rang through the air. They all turned and saw the jackal monsuno crawl up the canyon cliffs and away from the soldiers. Firing and shouts came from below.

“New plan gang,” Alpha said, staring at the retreating creature, “We’re getting that monsuno. Kilo.”

“I’m on it,” the other teen said, core in hand, “Warwing, launch!”

Warwing appeared, going next to the group. Kilo and Alpha hopped on.

“ Follow behind us. If we can capture the monsuno that should be enough to please Charlemagne,” Alpha said, the three nodding to him. He turned to Kilo. “Let’s go.”

~*~*~*~

"Freeze! Don't move!" Soldiers flanked them on all sides, giving Chase and Jinja no way out. Lock was still engaged in battle with the other monsuno, which didn't acknowledge the presence of the troops, despite their massive numbers.

"Chase. What now?" Jinja whispered, holding up her hands when the soldiers held up their weapons.

"Stop talking and put your cores on the ground!" One of the soldiers demanded, raising his gun a little. Jinja felt sweat start to form on her brow, but slowly edged her hand down to her belt.

"...Well? Chase?" When she turned, she could see him looking around at the top of the cliffs, almost as if he was seeing something that wasn't there.

"… Chase!"

"Look out!"

There was a gust of wind, and the troops around them were gone. When Jinja looked, the jackal monsuno had thrown Lock straight at the soldiers. Luckily Lock hadn’t landed on any of them, but disappeared into its core. The soldiers were now frantically trying to take the rogue monsuno down. Jinja took the opportunity as a chance to run.

"Chase, let's go!" she said, and motioned Charger over to them, "Quick, we have to get through to the tunnel- Chase?"

Suddenly, he took off towards the cliffs that the Strike Squad climbed up.

"Let's go Jinja this way!" Chase exclaimed, running through the chaos. Jinja ran after him, staying close on his heels as stray blasts went whizzing through the air. The rogue monsuno, which was snapping its jowls at the soldiers, suddenly howled. Jinja and Chase both gripped their ears.

Before either of them could recover, something flew right at them. Jinja gasped when they both hit the ground, now trapped in a metal net.

“Freeze!” A soldier said, followed by three more coming up to the pair. Jinja groaned.

“Great. Any more ideas Chase?” she said. When he didn’t respond, she noticed that he wasn’t paying attention to any of them anymore. Instead, he continued to grip his ears, staring down as his eyes fogged over. 

~*~*~*~

He hated walking. Throughout all the time that they had to travel the world, Bren hated walking. It also didn't help that every so often he would go right into a wall as he and Beyal walked through the cave.

Although shortly after a few minutes, Bren had to stop and heave Beyal onto his back so that he was now being awkwardly dragged along. Adrenaline had gotten them a lot farther than he thought, but now he was downright exhausted.

"Man I reaaally, hate this cave," Bren sighed, almost tripping for the tenth time. "Not that you don't already know that."

Beyal didn't respond, and had probably gone back to sleep a while ago. Bren sighed again, looking ahead with the faint light of a glowstick that was already losing power (probably shouldn’t have gotten them from the bargain bin in the last town).

"It feels like we've been walking for hours, doesn't it?" Bren said, and stopped. Ahead was pitch black, leading into the depths of the tunnel even more.

Except it now skewed into two paths.

"Aww crag," Bren muttered, looking back and forth between the paths. They either lead up and out, or down to nowhere, and there was no difference between the two of them.

"Great. This is just perfect," Bren frowned. Now what? Should he keep going farther in? What if he went the wrong way, or Chase goes the other and they all separate? What if he just got them even more lost, or ran into bigger problems than the Strike Squad. And what about Dax and Jinja? Did Chase meet up with them? Or did S.T.O.R.M. capture them all and were on their way to find him and Beyal?

Bren cursed, and kicked at one of the rocks on the floor. He watched as it kept rolling into the cave. Slowly, he sank to his knees, shoulders sagging in defeat.

"I guess we just wait here and see if they made it out, huh?" Bren said, head dropping down. He felt Beyal shift over his shoulders, mumbling something.

"Bren..."

He jumped when he heard the voice right next to him. When he looked, Beyal was glazing around with half lidded eyes. "Where... are we?"

"Nice of you to finally wake up," Bren huffed, "These tunnels lead back up to the surface. Probably."

Beyal didn't respond, and slowly slumped onto one of the walls. When Bren looked back, the monk was holding his head again. Bren let out an exhausting sigh.

Suddenly, there was laughter echoing throughout the cavern, surrounding them from all directions. Bren sucked in a breath, recognizing whose laughter it was.

" _Oh my! It looks like the little mousey are lost in the dark... What a shame..."_

Bren slowly got back to his feet. Knowing there was only one way it could come from, and from who. 

"Dom Pyro."

" _Oh? Does the little mousey want to fight? Too bad there's no room in here!"_ Dom Pyro giggled out. Bren took a few steps forward when suddenly there was the sound of something bouncing along the floor. When he looked down, Bren could see something move towards him. Before he could react, electricity was coursing through his body in a blinding flash. He let out a strangled cry, before falling to the ground.

" _Muehehehe! Poor little mousey! Not too smart to fall for my trick again!_ " Dom Pyro chuckled, stepping out into the faint light, his face shadowed in a menacing grin, "Too bad I don't need my pretty-pretty to take you on!"

Bren could barely move now, trying to reach one of his cores. It was a bad idea to spin out in such a small area, but if he didn't do something fast, who knows what Dom Pyro would do to them.

"Ah well... What a poor excuse of a game," He smirked, "So where are all the other mousies? Can't just leave without them eh?" He took a few steps over Bren, and came to a halt. Slowly, Bren tilted his head over to see what he was looking at. Sure enough, Beyal managed to stand and was staring down Dom Pyro. The man giggled again. “Oh? Do you want to try and fight, little mousey?”

Even in the slowly dimming light, Bren could recognize the green glow in his eyes from before.

~*~*~*~

As soon as the S.T.O.R.M. helicopters had cleared, Dax had reached the other entrance to the series of tunnels. When he was a few feet away from the entrance, he glanced inside to see that no one was in sight. While the soldiers had gone as soon as they came, most likely getting whatever it was they were tracking, Dax liked to think that the rest of the team was smart enough not to get caught.

'Nothing to do but wait I suppose,' he thought, taking a seat. With nothing but his thoughts, he tried his best to ignore the memory of Jinja kissing him. 

He shook his head. There was nothing there between the two of them! He cared about her as much as the rest of the team. Maybe not Bren but still-

The echo of footsteps sounded throughout the cave entrance. Immediately, Dax stood up. He edged to the side, just in case it was a S.T.O.R.M. soldier, or worse. His hand went to BioBlaze’s core.

There was the sound of someone tripping and a small squeak, and then a string of curses and complaining. Dax let out a sigh, and stepped out.

"Took you long enough, Glasses."

Bren stumbled out of the cave, dust covering his front and patches of his face. His hair was even more disheveled than before, dark circles starting to form under his eyes.

"Yeah. Yeah," He huffed. "You wouldn't do any better if you had to stumble along in the dark with barely an hour of sleep."

Dax frowned, looking over Bren's shoulder, "Where's everyone else?"

"Chase stayed behind to take on the Strike Squad. We didn't know where you and Jinja were, so we ran into the cave."

Dax raised a brow, "We?"

"Me and Beyal," Bren said, looking back into the cave, "Uhh... He _was_ behind me... Beyal? You still carrying the creep?"

“Creep?”

“Yeah… We got ambushed,” Bren said, scratching his cheek. Dax went inside, eventually nudging something with his foot. When he looked down, he recognized the familiar coat.

"Dom Pyro!" He exclaimed, then turned to Bren, “What’s this weirdo doing out here?”

Bren shrugged his shoulders. When Dax looked back down and nudged the man, he let out a groan. His hands and legs were cuffed together as he laid face down.

“We were just lucky that Beyal managed to knock him out,” Bren said, taking out the core tablet. Dax bent down so he could get a better look at the insane man.

"Monkfish did this?" he asked, surprised. When he flipped him over, Dom Pyro had a face that was turning purple from bruises. There was no way that Beyal could do this, even if it was self defense. The only way he would do such a thing would be because of that... _thing_ from before.

"Surprising isn't it?" Bren laughed, "I wouldn't have believed it if I wasn't there myself- Oh look! There he is now."

Dax's eyes shot up immediately. He could make out the faint outline of the white-haired teen slowly stumbling through the dark.

"... Bren? Dax?" He asked nervously. When he came closer, his eyes didn't hold the vicious look from before, only panic. Dax let out a sigh of relief.

"What's going on?" Beyal asked, scratching his head.

"What do you mean 'what's going on'? Don't tell me you don't remember flipping through the air, throwing punches, and taking out Dom Pyro in a blink of an eye?" Bren said, shrugging. Dax ignored him, and walked up to Beyal. Gently, he put a hand on his shoulder.

"You alright there Monkfish?"

Beyal continued to scratch his head in thought, looking to the ground with an uneasiness, "I... think so... What were we doing again?"

Just then, Dom Pyro let out a loud groan, followed by a few mumbles. He slowly lifted his head, struggling to move his arms.

"Urg... Why does my head hurt..." He moved his arms, but turned in shock to see the handcuffs, "W-What?! Since when did the mouseys get the jump on me?!"

"Save it, ya lunatic," Dax said, and walked over him back to the cave entrance, "C'mon. We gotta meet up with the others."

"Wait, so Chase and Jinja aren't with you?" Bren asked. Dax stopped at the mention of the other two members of Team Core Tech. 

"Well… I don't know exactly where the others are," Dax admitted, and peeked out the tunnel a bit, "But I got a general idea. Can you find out if there are any S.T.O.R.M. bases around here?"

Bren tapped on the Core Tablet. “It looks like there’s one by a small abandoned town. Probably the same base Dr. Tallis wanted us to go to. Why? You think Chase and Jinja got caught?”

“There were quite a few S.T.O.R.M. ships that took off pretty quickly. Either they gave up or they found what they were looking for,” Dax reasoned, “Unless you want to take a quick look around. And hope Chase and Jinja pop up.”

Bren frowned at that, clearly tired. Knowing him, they would probably do a quick look around anyway. When Dax looked back to Beyal, the monk was kneeling down next to Dom Pyro, curiously looking at him. At the attention, Dom Pyro started getting nervous.

"W-what are you looking at?!" he said, trying to hide the fear in his voice.

"… Did I… do that..?" Beyal asked, really to himself.

"Just you wait! Once I get a hold of my pretty pretty I'll pay you back tenfold!" Dom Pyro started to shout, flailing around. Bren and Dax exchanged looks before Bren walked next to Beyal and nudged his shoulder. Slowly, Beyal stood up, giving an uneasy glance back at the crazed man before following along out of the cave.

"W-Wait! You're not just going to leave me here are you?!" Dom Pyro shouted more, flailing helplessly on the ground.

"For a matter of fact," Bren said with a smirk, "Yeah. We are."

As they made their way out into the desert night, they could still hear Dom Pyro cursing at them. 

~*~*~*~

"Hargrave. Any news on our little friend Chase Suno?" Dr. Klipse said, lightly tapping his finger on his armrest. Hargrave had just contacted him not too long ago, although it was hard to get a signal on him, static feedback that he had never heard before.

 _"I'm afraid not sir,"_ Hargrave said, then cleared his throat, _"Unfortunately, Six has run off once again.”_

Dr. Klipse was silent. Six had become increasingly disobedient throughout the time that he had encountered Chase Suno, and it was obvious that there was something troubling his clone. Klipse swore he had gotten rid of those insecurities, but it appears that he was mistaken. He would have to correct his shortcomings soon.

" _There is also something else, sir."_ Dr. Klipse looked up _"It seems that Charlemagne has captured Chase Suno."_

"Do you have a pin on their location?" Dr. Klipse asked, mouth now set in a frown.

 _"I'm afraid I have to attend to... Uh... Your son for the moment, seeing as how he ran off,_ " Hargrave said. “ _And I’ll have to go find Dom Pyro. He hasn’t come back yet. But don’t worry. I have set up a safety net ahead of time.”_

"Excellent. In the meantime, try to locate where they took Suno. I'll be there shortly," Dr. Klipse said. Hargrave gave a small bow before disappearing from the screen. Klpse wasn't afraid of making himself known, especially to Charlemagne. The woman may have an iron grip on the militia of S.T.O.R.M., but she was far from having an iron grip on the rest of the world.

What Klipse was concerned about was Six and his need for attention. He was the least defective of the clones, and yet he was disobeying Klipse in more ways than one. All within the past month.

'I guess I'll just have to deal with him when I go get Suno,' Dr. Klipse thought, turning Backslash's core in between his fingers.


	5. Chapter 5

They had followed the Jackal monsuno far out into the desert. It hadn’t paid any attention to them, even as Warwing fired down at it. After the eight minutes, Alpha and Kilo jumped back into the cloud hopper. 

“Where’s it going?” Tango asked. 

“Not sure. There doesn’t seem to be anything out here,” X-Ray said, tapping at the keyboard, “How is it even out of a core?"

"It's probably not owned by anyone. Wasn't exactly putting up a fight," Kilo said as he crossed his arms.

“Which is why we’re going to apprehend it and take it to Charlemange,” Alpha said. Even though they managed to corner Chase and his group, their part in it would probably be played down in the report. They should’ve sent out their location voluntarily. 

“Alpha. It looks like it stopped,” X-Ray said. All eyes went to the front, seeing the monsuno now standing still. 

“Get a closer read on it,” Alpha ordered. Their screen zoomed in on it. It didn’t have any colors or distinguishing markings. It didn’t look like any in their database either. 

“Take the ship down,” Alpha said, “We’ll take it slow. Circle it and-”

Alarms went off. The screen lit red as a blast was aimed up at them. None of them reacted in time as it hit. The alarms got louder as the cloud hopper swerved in the air. Smoke and sparks flew as they all leapt out of their seats.

“Quick! Abort!”

The group ran and jumped out the back of the descending ship. Bravo turned mid air, launching Deadfall’s core. The dragon monsuno flew out and grabbed the five as the ship crashed into a fiery heap on the sand.

The jackal monsuno spotted them, it’s jowls opening as it fired more blasts at them. 

“Deadfall. Get us to the ground!” Bravo shouted. The monsuno maneuvered through the air as they clung on, eventually swooping down for them to leap off. It turned and surged at the other monsuno. 

“Get in formation!” Alpha said, taking Tripwire’s core. Before any of them took a step, something leapt over them. Alpha looked up to see a streak of white charging at the jackal monsuno. It rolled with the monsuno before getting tossed off.

As it slid, the group of teens could see that it was yet another monsuno. This one was brighter than the Jackal monsuno, practically pure white and glowing in the moonlight. It snarled at the jackal monsuno before charging again. 

“Alpha. What-what do we do?” X-Ray asked. Alpha opened his mouth a few times to say something, but was caught up in the sight of the wolf monsuno. The jackal growled as it jumped back a few steps. Eventually it turned and blasted down Deadfall suddenly. Deadfall shrieked before turning back into sparks. The watched in shock. That was too quick!

The jackal’s eyes followed Deadfall, landing on the group of teens. Its jowls opened, snarling at the sight of them. An empty feeling dropped in Alpha’s stomach.

“Guys run-”

The jackal monsuno rushed at them. Within five large leaps it was on top of them.

~*~*~*~

“Man. Why couldn’t we have hijacked a cloud hopper? This is gonna take forever.”

The three teens were now walking along through the desert towards the southern base of S.T.O.R.M. where Chase and Jinja most likely were taken. They had searched the area, but all signs said that the two were captured.

“Because they were all gone. Duh,” Dax said. 

“Well. Why can’t we just flag over some S.T.O.R.M. soldiers? I’m sure they would be happy to take us to the base,” Bren said, kicking at the sand.

Dax tilted his head in thought. “Maybe. Or they’ll take us to some other base. Do you want to chance that Glasses?”

Bren grumbled more under his breath. Despite their situation, Beyal was more troubled about what happened in the past day than their current situation. When he tried to think back to what happened, there were many blank spaces in his memory. There were bits and pieces, but he could hardly recall any of it clearly. At any other time he would've meditated over it, but time was against them. They needed to find Chase and Jinja as soon as they could.

Beyal stopped, thinking about the previous night on how he and Bren couldn’t help. It was frustrating, but it was more disturbing to think about what happened with Dom Pyro. Apparently he had taken the man down single handedly, so why couldn't he remember? Just trying to recall everything was making his head spin even more...

He reached down to his belt and took a hold of Glowblade's core, letting his fingers graze against the glass. There was an unsettling feeling coming from inside, though it was hard to tell from what. It was almost as if Glowblade was trying to get out, or warn him.

"... Hey! Beyal! Hurry up!" He looked up quickly to see that the other two were far ahead.

"Oh. Coming!" He called back, putting Glowblade back on his belt. They continued to walk for what felt like hours, when it could have easily been minutes. The faintest bit of light was on the horizon. 

“Aww the sun’s coming up,” Bren groaned, “We’ve been up all night.”

“What do you mean ‘we’? You actually got sleep,” Dax said.

“Yeah. But you didn’t have to deal with Dom Pyro-”

“You didn’t even deal with him.”

Beyal looked back over to the horizon. He stopped again when we saw a dust cloud. 

“What’s that?”

The other two stopped. They followed his line of sight.

“Huh. That’s weird,” Dax said, “Must be a sand storm.”

“Oh great,” Bren groaned, “Now we need to find cover.”

“I don’t think so. It’s still pretty far away. And it’s probably just a small wind or something,” Dax waved off, “Now let’s hurry up. My blisters are getting blisters.

“Uh. Dax,” Bren said, looking closer to the horizon, “I don’t think that’s just wind.”

The three watched as the storm continued to approach them. Bren started to tug out his binoculars when it suddenly stopped.

“See? Dust storm.” Dax shrugged. “Now. Let’s get out of here.”

Beyal took one step before the whole world tilted. He stumbled against the sand, a pain going between his eyes. He fell to his knees.

"As soon as we get to the base let's raid the cafeteria," Bren said, "I call first dibs on the-Beyal? What’s wr-”

Suddenly, something came burrowing out from the sand. It spun into the air before uncurling. It was the mountain lion monsuno.

“Uh oh. You think it wants to try and be friends?” Bren squeaked out. Dax clicked his tongue. In his blurred vision, Beyal could see him hold up a core.

“Boost!”

“Shellshot!”

“Launch!”

The two monsuno burst out. The three monsuno slid against the sand away from each other.

"Bootst, turbo strike!"

The mountain lion monsuno ignored the attack, instead jumping over the two monsuno to get at at the teens. Boost swerved, hooking it’s claws into the other’s legs, slamming it to the ground. 

“We better get out of here!” Bren exclaimed.

“Normally I wouldn’t agree with you, but sometimes you have some good ideas,” Dax said, “Alright Monkfish up and at ‘em!”

Beyal kept his hands in his head, the pain intensifying. He gasped as it suddenly got white hot. 

Both Bren and Dax grabbed his arms. Just then, the mountain lion monsuno gave a shrill cry. As soon as it did, both Boost and Shellshot twitched horribly. They both roared out before turning on each other.

“Wh-What’s going on?!” Bren shouted. Neither Dax or Beyal responded as the mountain lion monsuno focused in on them again. It took two strides, preparing to pounce. That was the last thing Beyal saw before the splitting pain got too intense. 

~*~*~*~

_“Chase… Chase!”_

His eyes slowly opened. It was an empty space that he was floating in.

“Well. This is new,” Chase said to himself. Everything felt muddled, like his head was stuck underwater. It must be the Dreaming again.

“ _Chase. Here.”_

He gasped, turning around. A woman in white was standing a distance away. He smiled.

“Mom!” he said with a smile, floating over, “What are you doing here-What’s going on?”

 _“Chase. I don’t have much time to explain,”_ she said, “ _I’m here.”_

Chase raised a brow. “What are you talking about?”

“T _he ruins son. Go to the ruins north,”_ she said, “ _You need to go because I am there.”_

Chase gasped. No way!

“Y _ou have to hurry. There’s no telling when the Hand of Destiny will be on the move,”_ Sophia said, “ _Please. They’re here to capture the monsuno. You must rescue me before...”_

She started to fade back into the darkness. Chase gasped, trying to move despite his body slowing.

“No! Wait- Mom! Come back!”

" _Please Chase. You must..."_

~*~*~*~

The sound of electricity buzzing was the only sound in the room besides the faint sound of metal clicking and the occasional small curse. Fluorescent light from above gave the room a bluish tint. Jinja had woken in this place, hands cuffed. There seemed to be many cells along the hall, including across from her, but all were silent and empty.

"Erg... C'mon...!" she said under her breath, bending a small bobby pin into one of the keyholes. She had been working since she had woken up, trying to get the metal cuffs off so that she could find Chase.

She stopped for a moment. Was he even here? Did they take him to another base? Or straight to Charlemagne? And what about the others? Were they here as well? She sighed, knowing that the only way to find out was to escape before anyone else showed up.

There was a low moan in the cell to her left that made her stop again. She held her breath, trying to listen to who it was.

"… Is someone there?" She asked not too loudly. There was another moan and shifting sound.

"… Ugh… Mom… Come back…"

Jinja let out a sigh in relief. Chase was next to her. At least that meant that Charlemagne hadn't separated them. It was a bit odd that Chase would be dreaming about his mother right now, but then again, weirder things had happened to them. She looked back to the handcuffs and started picking at the lock again.

It was hard to tell how much time had passed since she had been working to get them off. There weren't any windows either, and no one came down the hall yet, so it could've only been a few minutes. Chase started mumbling in his sleep more. He was probably just having a nightmare like before-

She held her breath. Last time he had a violent nightmare, the Hand of Destiny were trying to capture him and Beyal. She looked down, eyes cast to the ground. What if it _was_ a nightmare like before? Sure Chase would be alright since the Hand wouldn't just attack S.T.O.R.M. But what about Beyal? The only one with him was Bren (and he isn't exactly the brawniest of the bunch that's for sure). The Hand could've gotten them both by this time, or worst.

"… I hope you're all alright," she said.

She looked back up to the cuff and went back to work. Once a while back, Dax showed them one of his many 'talents' with lock picking when they needed a place to stay for a night in an abandoned town. She didn't get to see very clearly, but got the gist of how he managed to do it.

_"-at least I am straight with people. You can't even find the gull to outright say your feelings, to any of us."_

She bit her lip, remembering the last time she saw the lowlander and how tense it was. She gripped the bobby pin a bit tighter. Sure there were some tender moments between her and Dax, but there were many times that they didn't click. Of course it didn't help that she felt easier in expressing her feelings to Beyal. He was a lot more honest and easier to read.

… How many times had she and Beyal kissed now? Twice? Maybe she was just moving too fast. But then again, maybe everything that has happened up to this point has just been in the moment. After all, she couldn't really picture herself with either of them after this whole ordeal. Sure they would all still be friends, maybe even work for Core Tech together, but would it ever be more than that?

Jinja let out another sigh. She really did complicate things in that brief minute with Dax. Next time she sees him, she'll clear up the whole thing. It was just a misunderstanding.

At least that's what she kept telling herself as she continued to work on the small lock.

~*~*~*~

Six had journeyed through the desert at a slow pace. At first he rode on Demise for as long as he could, eventually having to call the monsuno back. Now he was walking along the deserts rather aimlessly. It was mostly out of curiosity that Six decided to wander away from the old man and into the desert to follow the strange feeling he had in his chest.

Ever since speaking to the red haired girl, he got the strange feeling. No. He had the feeling ever since coming to this place of endless sand. It was only when they came to the river did he realize why.

There was a sound. A faint call from far away, and Six needed to find the source of the soothing voice. He had never heard of such a melodious sound before. Of course he wasn't alive for very long, but that didn't mean he wasn't the least bit curious about the unknown. 

At least it seemed that way. 

He looked to his right. The sun was about to peek out from a distance. He looked to his core.

“I wonder. What is it that is talking to me,” he said. Six had been following until he could start making out words. Faintly, he could hear Chase’s name. That didn’t surprise him, considering how they were connected.

Eventually, Six spotted something close by. Buried in the sand was some sort of cave. On closer inspection he could see wood holding it up. It was a mine shaft.

“How odd,” he said to himself. Pausing for a moment, he could hear the voice from inside. Without any caution, he went inside.

As he traveled further inside, Six could hear the voice more clearly. In fact, it started to become echoed mumbles. 

" _… Chase…"_ He heard. “ _Chase. You must find me. You have to come to me.”_

His foot kicked into the rocks. They loudly clattered. The voice immediately stopped. In the dark, Six could see a cloaked figure kneeling down. Quickly, they stood and turned around.

Neither of them spoke.

“ _Who,”_ the figure finally said, “ _Who. Who are- You’re not Chase.”_

“Who are you? What do you want with Chase Suno?” Six asked curiously. The figure paused again, as if debating what to say. Eventually, they reached up and pulled back their brown hood. Chestnut hair curtained out. Six’s eyes widened at the emerald eyes staring back at him. For some reason she seemed… Familiar.

"I'll ask again, who are you?" she asked, more of a statement.

"My name is Six E. Klipse. My father is Emmanuel Klipse, and I am looking for Chase Suno," he said monotonously. The woman's expression suddenly turned sour, strange how it went from peaceful to aggravated so quickly.

"You're not Chase. So I suggest you leave," she said, turning away and walking further into the cave. Six was a little surprised, though he didn't show it. Why did this woman care about Chase? Were they possibly related? In which case did that make her and Six related by default? He scoffed inwardly, remembering that little fact about him and Chase.

"Chase is my rival," Six continued, "Whatever has to do with him, has to do with me.”

She paused, eventually turning back with a blank expression. There was a flicker in her hand, but Six ignored it to stare into her eyes. There was something dark in them, but he couldn’t place what. 

The light intensified in the woman’s hand. She held it up to look at. From over her shoulder Six could see that it was some sort of white core.

“Hmph. Of course that one would show up,” she mumbled, “I’ll have to make sure it’s captured before Chase arrives. As for you.”

She looked over to Six again with a bored expression. “ “If you aren’t Chase and don't have the sight, I suggest you leave.”

With that, she turned and left. Six wasn’t sure what to do, knowing that she was the voice that he had been hearing. Though he still had no idea who she was.

Six looked back towards the entrance. He knew that he wasn’t supposed to leave Hargrave’s side, but his curiosity had gotten the better of him. He turned his back on the entrance, intending on following the familiar woman from a distance.


	6. Chapter 6

Chase let out another low mutter in the next cell over, and started to make even more sounds. Jinja paused to listen, noticing how loud he had gotten in the last few minutes.

"…Ngn… Where… Where am I?" he asked groggily.

"About time you woke up," Jinja said, feeling some of the tumblers in the lock finally loosening. There was shuffling before he responded.

"Jinja? Is that you?" he asked.

"Yeah. It's me," she said, and decided to stop for the moment, taking a hold of the bobby pin between her fingers and slipping it out of the lock.

"… Where are we?" Chase asked.

"It's safe to say... Probably the southern S.T.O.R.M. base," Jinja said. At first she couldn't tell, but then figured that they were taken down south since it was the closer one. She heard Chase give out a sigh.

"That's what I thought…" Jinja bit her lip. Chase started to shuffle more, most likely cuffed as well.

"Do you... do you think the others are here?" Jinja asked hesitantly. She hadn't seen any of them except Dax that previous night, and even then she lost track of him after their fight. 

"I don't think so," Chase grunted, more clinks of metal resounding in the hall, "If they wanted to keep us separate, they wouldn't have put you and me together-ow!"

"Chase? Chase are you alright?!"

"Yeah. Just cut myself on the handcuffs," He sighed, "I guess I can’t just break them off. That’d be too easy.”

There was a pause. Chances were, Charlemagne was on her way over to the base now, no doubt intending on 'interrogating' them to find Dr. Suno. The last thing they needed was to lead S.T.O.R.M. back to Chase's dad.

The thought of the man suddenly reminded Jinja about Chase's mumblings from before.

"Chase… What were you dreaming about?" she asked.

"What?"

"You kept saying something about your mom. Did you see her in another vision?"

Chase paused, and it was hard to tell whether he was thinking or hesitating on what he wanted to say. He didn't immediately respond, and it became silent after that. Did he really not want to talk about it, or was he keeping something from her? 

A minute later, the sound of a door opening echoed throughout the hallway before she could ask. Footsteps were approaching them, and Jinja could feel a bead of sweat come down in anticipation. Another cell to her left opened and shut, and then the footsteps went away. It was only after the door closed again did they speak.

"What was that about?" Jinja asked, "You think they caught someone?"

"Don't know," Chase said, "Hey! Is there anyone in there?"

There wasn't a response, and he let out a sigh.

"I guess not... Anyway, Jinja. You think you could get your hands out?"

"I've kinda been working on it for a while now," Jinja said, slightly annoyed. She took a hold of the bobby pin once more and went back to work. She wanted to ask Chase more about what he was saying before, but knew from the silence that it was something he didn't want to talk about.

~*~*~*~

The mountain lion monsuno took two steps before charging at the teens. Bren felt Beyal slump in his grasp while he yelped in surprise. Bren ducked down, shutting his eyes waiting for the inevitable. 

There was a harsh crunch noise, and Bren wasn’t willing to look. After realizing that he was still alive, he peeked out a little. He could tell by the hot breath on his back that the monsuno was right behind him. Gulping, Bren turned back.

To his shock, Beyal had caught the monsuno’s mouth just as it had tried snapping at them. His foot was pressed down onto it’s bottom jaw while his hand pushed up against its upper lip. It’s neck looked odd with how it was forced to the ground, eyes enraged.

“W-Wow,” Bren gasped out. The rogue monsuno jerked back. Hopping a few paces away. Beyal stared back at it with an intense expression. Something Bren had only seen a few hours ago.

Bren was snapped out of his daze when he saw Dax hold out his core towards Boost, who was trying it’s best to claw at Shellshot’s face.

“Boost, return!”

It seemed to resist, but in the end, Boost became blue sparks again as it was called back to its core. Bren followed suit. The mountain lion monsuno continued to stare at them down, hissing low. 

Bren’s eyes went back and forth between Beyal and the monsuno. Eventually, Beyal’s eyes closed, and he let out a small gasp. The monk looked around with a confused look, the glow now gone from his gaze.

“Oh. Dax. Bren. What are we doing?” he asked. As soon as he looked away, the mountain lion monsuno pounced at them with a roar. Dax immediately tackled the two out of the way as it spun into the dunes of sand. 

They all landed in a pile, Dax being the first back up.

“Battle that we ain’t winnin’. We gotta split!” he exclaimed, “We’re not beating that thing today.”

“Or the next day either,” Bren added, as he stumbled back up. Beyal nodded, though looked confused. He took a core as the rogue monsuno burst from the sand again.

“Mysticblade, launch!”

His monsuno appeared, immediately swooping down and grabbing them before ascending upward. They got well into the clouds while the mountain lion monsuno roared at them.

Dax was the first to let out a sigh. “Bleezers. That was too close.”

“Where did it even come from?” Bren asked as he peeked over Mysticblade’s side. Dax ignored him, suddenly getting a serious expression.

“Oi. Monkfish,” he said, “How the heck were you able to do all that back there?”

Beyal raised a brow. “Do what?”

“Er. Nevermind,” Dax said, waving his hand, “We’ve got bigger things to worry about.”

“Yeah. Like if it’s following us!” Bren said, looking over Mysticblade.

“I was talking about getting Chase and Jinja back, Glasses.”

“Oh. Right,” Bren said, “Wait. That’s right!” 

He grabbed the Core Tablet, tapping the screen a few times. 

“Since we’re above the desert. Maybe we’ll get a better signal,” Bren said. The core tablet showed the map briefly before going into static. Bren grumbled, banging the side with the palm of his hand. “C’mon. Stupid…”

He faced it in different directions, eventually facing backwards on Mysticblade. Unfortunately he was now facing Dax, which irked him. But the annoyance was replaced when he saw how close they were to the base.

“Oh. We’re much closer than I thought,” he said, “Looks like it’s near a small outpost town that’s been abandoned.”

“Great. We can land there and recover some time before hitting ‘em hard!” Dax grinned. Bren started to turn around again, and noticed the static coming back. Out of curiosity, he moved it back and forth a few times. Dax raised a brow. He opened his mouth to say something but noticed what Bren was looking at. Everytime he faced it near Beyal it went static. Bren turned around with an uneasy look. 

Immediately Bren looked over Dax’s shoulder and let out a shout.

“We’ve got company!”

All three looked back. In the distance something red was flying towards them. They knew immediately what it was. Dax reached into Bren’s backpack and tugged out a pair of binoculars.

“H-Hey! Ask before you root around in a guys bag!”

Dax looked into the binoculars before growling.

“Why the heck is Darkspin out here?”

~*~*~*~

Chase sighed. He and Jinja had been silent, except for the sound of Jinja picking at the lock of her handcuffs. Chase could only assume that they would be out as soon as she could get free.

But that just left him alone with his thoughts. And all he could think about was how his mother was so close now. If he could just get out of here-

There was a groan, followed by the sound of shuffling. Chase sucked in a breath, but it quickly became silent again. He let out a sigh. There was a pause in the metal clinking coming from Jinja's cell, but it quickly continued.

Chase wanted to say something, especially about his vision, but he couldn't bring himself to find the words. Even though they had known each other as kids, there was no way that Jinja would know what he was feeling. Chase’s mom had disappeared years ago, leaving him with an empty feeling. Despite traveling together, Jinja (and even Bren) wouldn't understand that type of loss. 

There was a loud thud in the cell to his left, followed by low curses.

"Is someone there?" he asked somewhat quietly.

"Ugh... Stupid soldiers..." someone cursed, and continued to mumble lowly, "Stupid... Idiot..."

Chase cleared his throat. "Um... Hello? Is someone there?"

"... Chase Suno?" A surprised but familiar voice said.

" _Drezz?!"_ Chase exclaimed. He recognized that voice now that it was clearer. "What are you doing here?"

In the cell next to him, there was the sound of shifting, and then a chuckle.

"I guess you got caught too eh?" Drezz said, "I guess it makes sense since we left you to your own devices."

"What do you mean 'to our own devices'? And what are you even doing down here?" Chase asked. There was more shifting in the cell. Drezz probably wasn't handcuffed like they were, seeing that Charlemagne would be more worried about their escape than the Punk Monk's.

"Well. We followed you to your little camp. S.T.O.R.M. soldiers showed up. I figured I could sneak in with them, but obviously that didn’t go too well,” Drezz said, "I didn't think you would be getting yourself caught though Chase Suno. S.T.O.R.M. too much for you to handle?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Jinja huffed from Chase's right. She seemed more on the edgy side at this point, most likely because of the lack of sleep. Chase did find it odd that Drezz had shown up here, but there was no harm in finding out information. Especially now that they were at the base that Tallis wanted them to be at.

"So Drezz," Chase started, "What was it that Dr. Tallis wanted us to find here? Something about a monsuno right?"

Drezz paused. “... Why would you want to know?”

“Uh. Because you asked me to find a monsuno here? And since we're both here, might as well spill it,” Chase said. Drezz paused again.

“Fair. Though I don’t know anything more than you do,” Drezz said, “Although. The monsuno has something to do with some other group. Er. What were they called again… Hand of something...”

Chase inhaled sharply.

“The… Hand of Destiny?” he asked. 

“Ah. Y-Yeah. Them,” Drezz said, “The monsuno rumored to be here has to do with something that they want. Not sure what that could be though.”

Chase stared at the floor. The monsuno here had something to do with the Hand of Destiny. His mom said they were here to capture monsuno. Were they connected? It looked like Drezz knew more than he was letting on.

“Drezz. What can you tell me about-”

The door to the holding cells opened. Silence fell, multiple pairs of footsteps approaching.

~*~*~*~  
  


In the distance, the group of boys could already hear Medea’s cackling. Her monsuno swiveled as it flew through the air.

“Great. As if this wasn’t hard enough,” Bren groaned.

“Doesn’t matter. It’s not like she can catch up with us,” Dax said. If anything, her monsuno would time out before even coming close.

“Uh. Dax.”

“What now Glasses?”

Bren started pointing. “She’s catching up!” 

Dax turned around. Sure enough, they could see Medea now standing above Poisonwing. How?

Dax looked down. They were going slower, descending for some reason. He gasped, eyes flitting to Beyal. The monk was hunched over, not listening to anything they said.

Mysticblade suddenly let out a howl. As it did, Beyal suddenly flopped over. Bren gasped as he tried to reach. The second Beyal’s grasp loosened on the core, Mysticblade disappeared. The three were left falling. 

Dax turned mid air, eyes dashing around to find something to hit a core against. Eventually he grabbed Bren’s bag again.

“Ah! Dax!”

Dax pulled out the Core Tablet. “Quick! Grab Monkfish!”

“O-On it!” Bren shouted. He grabbed both Beyal’s arm and Mysticblade’s core. Dax flung the Core Tablet up, aiming the strike launcher.

“Airswitch. Launch!”

The core hit the tablet straight on. Airswitch appeared, swooping down and grabbing the three before flying back upwards.

Dax sat up straighter. Aiswitch turned its head back, holding the Core Tablet in its beak. 

“Thanks bud,” Dax said, taking it, “Here Bren.”

Bren was sprawled out on Airswitch’s back, Beyal lying top of him. The Core Tablet smacked his face. His eyes threw daggers at Dax when he lifted it off. Before he could give a retort, Medea’s laughter filled the air.

“Oh! Look who it is!” she cackled behind them. “Poisonwing. Stasis Sting!”

“Hang on!”

Airswitch swerved to the side. They avoided the attack, Bren screaming the whole time.

“What’s wrong boys? Running away so soon?” Medea laughed. Dax grit his teeth. Over his shoulder he could see Bren now on top of Beyal, desperately clinging to Airswitch.

“Bren. Take Beyal and get to that outpost,” Dax said.

“What?”

“Your core loser!”

“Oh!” Bren grabbed Neo-Quickforce’s core. He took aim at Poisonwing. “Neo-Quickforce. Launch!”

Neo-Quickforce appeared, immediately blasting at Poisonwing. Medea had to pull back slightly. Neo-Quickforce flew next to Airswitch. Bren slung Beyal’s arm around his shoulders before hopping onto his monsuno. With that, Dax and Airswitch flew upward in a wide arc.

“Sonic Screech!”

“Stasis Sting!”

The two attacks hit. Airswitch swerved down as Poisonwing flew upwards.

“Don’t think that you’re getting away so quickly!” Medea said with glee. Dax grit his teeth. Airswitch rolled, turning around and lashing at the other with its wings. Poisonwing slithered through the air. It sank its fangs into Airswitch’s wing joint near its neck. Airswitch shrieked outloud. 

Dax and Medea exchanged looks. Before he could say anything, Dax noticed S.T.O.R.M. cloud hoppers approaching. 

“Wh-Where did-”

“Did you really think that I would be out here alone?” Medea cackled. 

“Neo-Quickforce, Ring Cannon!”

Poisonwing drew back before the attack could hit. Airswitch cried a little as it started to sink in the air from the bite. One of the cloud hoppers flew next to Medea, who called her monsuno back before leaping inside. From the front Dax could see the rest of Darkspin. Their cloud hopper took off in another direction, a few others following.

Dax clicked his tongue. Airswitch was drained of its energy. Dax hopped onto Neo-Quickforce before calling his monsuno back.

“Dax! Let’s land!” Bren shouted.

“What? Are you out of your mind?!”

“I got a plan!”

Dax grumbled, glancing back at the cloud hoppers. They were certainly outnumbered, and there was nowhere for them to hide really. Neo-Quickforce came down softly. Bren let Beyal lean on him as it was called back. The soldiers started to approach, though only two of the cloud hoppers landed.

“Oh no!” Bren said out loud, “It looks like Darkspin are going after that monsuno we were after!”

Dax gave Bren a confused look. He leaned closer in a whisper. “What’re you doin?”

“Follow my lead!” Bren hissed back, and then looked forward again. He cleared his throat. “I guess that powerful monsuno we were going after will get claimed by Klipse! Oh well!”

“What’re you blabbing about kid!” one of the approaching soldiers exclaimed. Bren shrugged his shoulders.

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Answer the question,” Another soldier demanded.

“I don’t think y’all need to know,” Dax said with a smirk, “After all. Instead of going after that _really_ strong monsuno that’s freely running around in the desert, you’re using all your man power to babysit.”

“I bet Charlemagne would like a nice shiny new monsuno,” Bren said. The soldiers exchanged looks. Both Bren and Dax started to sweat. Eventually, one of the soldiers made a motion.

“One of you stay here and take them to the base. The rest will follow Darkspin!”

Two soldiers, who weren’t quite the average sizes for soldiers, stepped towards the teens. The rest of the soldiers piled into the cloud hopper taking off. Dax did a quick headcount. Including the two, there were three more at the last cloud hopper there. They could definitely-

“Alright you three! Get over here!” one of the soldiers in the ship shouted. 

“Uh. Can I get a hand over here?” Bren asked, Beyal still leaning on him. One of the soldier closest to them, who seemed on the thin side, slung Beyal’s free arm around their shoulders. When the group got to the cloud hopper, the soldiers pulled Bren and Dax aside, quickly cuffing them. 

“Ah great. Any other ideas?” Dax hissed at Bren, who just sheepishly shrugged. Before they walked into the cloud hopper, the larger soldier pressed something into Dax’s hand.

Dax raised a brow, then noticed the soldier that had helped Beyal inside was looking out at him and Bren. When they briefly lifted their visor, suddenly it became clear.

~*~*~*~

The fight was close to finishing. Deadfall and Blockade had returned, leaving Alpha, Kilo, and Tango as the ones left fighting the Jackal monsuno. Alpha grit his teeth. How the heck was this thing able to hold out for so long?

Fortunately for them, the wolf monsuno that showed up was on their side. It dragged the Jackal monsuno away whenever it tried to attack the group of teens. But it was obvious they were in a losing situation.

Ironjaw tried to charge, but the jackal monsuno launched a blast at it while clawing at the wolf monsuno. Ironjaw was called back to its core. Tango cradled it with a defeated expression. 

“Alpha. What do we do?” she asked, “Should we run while we still can?”

“Deadfall can be called back out,” Bravo said, stepping forward. Alpha frowned, and turned back to the fight. Tripwire and Warwing were standing by just in case, but were in no position to attack. The leader knew that he was the one that suggested they follow the rogue monsuno, but apparently everything he does blows up in his face.

“Don’t worry,” he said, “We’ll-”

The jackal monsuno suddenly stopped. It turned and fled out into the desert. The teens just watched as it did, too shocked to react. Before any of them could say something, the wolf monsuno turned to them. 

Alpha’s grip on his core tightened. He tried to order Tripwire, but his voice was lost as the wolf monsuno took two strides and was in front of them. He could feel its breath on him, knowing that it full well could eat him.

But instead, its mouth opened, its tongue lolling out, and it licked him.

Alpha blinked a few times, the wolf monsuno panted before lying on its stomach next to them. He could feel his hair sticking up oddly.

“Alpha!”

He snapped out of his daze. The rest of his teammates ran up and dragged him away somewhat from the monsuno. He stumbled backwards and fell. Hands pressed against his shoulders, sitting him up.

“You okay?” X-Ray asked, the rest of them casting cautious glances at the monsuno. Alpha blinked, turning to the scene in front of him. Surprisingly, Tripwire and Warwing were standing by, but none of them were tense at how close the wolf monsuno was to the group of teens. Alpha blinked again, and looked down at his core.

For some reason, he could feel how calm Tripwire was. 

There was a buzzing noise that made them all jump. X-Ray reached down and grabbed the communicator. When he tried to press the button, however, it didn’t answer. Instead all they heard was static. 

“Geez. Stupid desert,” he said. 

“Alpha. Should we uh,” Tango started, looking to the monsuno, “Should we. Should we capture it?”

Alpha stared at the wolf monsuno. It stared at them, as if knowing what they were talking about. Yet, he didn’t feel threatened by it.

“... No,” he said, “We’re going after the other one. It can’t have gone far.”

The wolf monsuno’s ears perked up. It stood, making them all tense. It let out a howl. Tripwire and Warwing were summoned back to their cores.

The teens stared, unsure of what happened. Before he could say anything, the monsuno plucked Alpha up by the back of his suit. Strike Squad gasped as he was lightly tossed in the air and landed on the monsuno’s back. His hands carded through the soft white fur. The monsuno looked to the rest of them.

“Er. Yeah. Okay!” Kilo said as they edged closer to its back. Alpha offered a hand as they climbed up. Once they were all settled, the monsuno stood and charged out into the desert.

He didn’t know what any of this meant, but Alpha was certain that this was what they were supposed to do. His grip on Tripwire tightened.


	7. Chapter 7

When the door to the hall opened, Jinja immediately stopped. The footsteps started to approach, sweat forming on her brow in anticipation. The people stopped short of her cell, probably in front of Chase's.

"Chase Suno," one of the voices said in a low tone.

"Commander Trey," Chase huffed back, "I see you're still taking orders from Charlemagne."

"And I see that you're still a defiant brat," Trey said, "why is it that whenever there is a monsuno crisis, you're somehow involved?"

There was a pause as Chase let out a hum in thought, "bad habit I guess."

"... Well then. You wouldn't mind telling me everything you know about those new monsuno running around in the deserts. It's obvious that they need to be controlled from how powerful they are," Trey sneered.

Jinja inwardly groaned. So that's what it was about. Power. Typical for Charlemagne.

"So S.T.O.R.M.'s just trying to use the monsuno, am I right?" Chase asked. Jinja heard a satisfying click from one of her handcuffs.

"Think what you will, those monsuno shouldn't be left running wildly in the world," Commander Trey said, staring intently.

"Aw. Isn't that noble of you," Jinja said sarcastically as she started to work on the other cuff, "I'm sure Charlemagne would love to give you a commendation if you hadn't screwed up already."

"You stay quiet in there! You'll be questioned in a second," Trey snapped, "Now, where did these monsuno come from? And where are they at now?"

Chase had gone silent. Jinja stopped when nothing was said. She couldn't see what was going on, but knew that something was wrong with him.

"... Hey! Suno!" Trey said, snapping his fingers a few times, probably snapping Chase out of whatever daze he was in, "I'll give you until the count of five to tell me what you know about the monsuno."

"You don't have to count to me like I'm a kid," Chase retorted, "And chances are those monsuno are long gone out of the desert by now. I doubt you'll find them again."

"What makes you so certain?" Trey asked, suspicion ringing in his voice.

"Ah... hmm... Just a hunch...?" Chase stuttered out. Whatever he was trying to keep from Trey was obvious. Trey wasn't satisfied, and snapped his fingers again. Jinja heard footsteps approach and hastily hid the bobby pin away.

"W-wait! What're you doing?" Chase asked frantically. A soldier stood in front of the cell, opening it with a smirk. He cracked his knuckles.

"Seeing that you don't quite care so much, might as well ask your little friend, eh?" Trey chuckled a bit, "Unless you want to tell me otherwise?"

The second the soldier got near, Jinja slammed her fists down on his shoulders by his neck in. She grabbed the front of his uniform and slammed him into the wall. He let out a grunt and slumped to the floor. She finally undid the other cuff within a second before stepping out of the cell.

"Don't mind me, Commander," Jinja said with a smirk. Trey grit his teeth, and looked to the other soldier at his side. Charging forward, the soldier swung his fist out in a wide punch. Jinja easily ducked down before swinging her foot up. Without hesitating, she took the front of their uniform and threw them into her open cell by the other soldier. She let out a huff before turning to Trey. He took another step back, and brought his hands up in a loose fighter stance.

"Don't think I'll go easy, you little-"

He let out a small gasp of surprise before crumpling to the ground. Chase and Jinja both stared for a moment, then looked at the pair of hands sticking out of the other cell in a fist.

"Yoo hoo, still in here," Drezz said, waving one of his hands. The two of them sighed. Jinja grabbed the handcuff keys And access card on Trey's belt before going over to Chase's cell. Getting inside, she quickly undid the cuffs around his wrists, noticing the way he winced when moving.

"You okay?" she asked, looking at his wrist. There was a large red welt around his wrist, and some parts had started to bleed.

"I'll live," he said, "But I'm not sure that's a good thing with Charlemagne on her way."

"Then let's hurry," Jinja said. There was a clap, and they both turned to still see Drezz's hands hanging out of his cell. Jinja turned back to Chase with an unsure look.

"Should we let him out?" she asked. It wouldn't be fair to leave him behind, especially since he was the one to take out Trey. Still, he wasn't one to be trusted.

"Let me see the key," Chase said. Jinja hesitated for a moment, but gave it up nonetheless. The two of them went to the front of the cell.

For some reason Drezz was wearing a S.T.O.R.M. soldier uniform, most likely how he managed to get in the base. He still wore his signature headband, but had a rather large bump on the side of his face that had started to turn purple.

"Help a guy out?" he said sheepishly, hanging his hands out a little. Chase kept his face serious, though he edged the key card close to the access pad. Immediately, Jinja put a hand on his wrist.

"What are you doing?" she hissed in his ear, "I don't think we can trust him."

Chase was silent, an unreadable expression on his face. There was a flash in his eyes, and she thought that he would unlock the cell. Instead, he moved away from the door.

"You're right," he said, not looking up, "Let's go."

Jinja nodded and ran over to the door Trey came out of. There wouldn't be much time before the rest of S.T.O.R.M. would be on their way. As soon as she got through the door, however, it slammed behind her.

"Wait- Chase! Open this door right now!" she shouted, banging her fists against it. She could hear voices on the other side, and knew that whatever crazy plan Chase had, it wouldn't end well. She banged two more times before realizing it was useless. 

She reached for a core before remembering that they got taken. Perfect. Just one more thing to find.

"As soon as this is all over, I'm gonna kill him," Jinja grumbled, stomping down the hall.

What was that idiot thinking? Especially since it meant that he was now alone with Drezz and Trey without any way to protect himself.

She stopped, then bit her lip in thought. What made Chase want to do this on his own all of a sudden? He was never like this before. Even when it came to finding his father, she and Bren were the first two people he had come to for help.

There was a sound in one of the halls, and Jinja took off again. There were a few guards, luckily none of them had noticed her. At least Chase was smart enough not to trip any of the alarms. She turned another corner (which honestly looked like the last) and saw a large door at the end of the hall. 

When she went through, she found herself in the large landing hanger for the S.T.O.R.M. ships. There were currently a few jeeps and jets around, along with various crates along the walls.

'I'll probably have to get through here to get to the other halls,' Jinja thought. She had no real idea of where to go at this point, whether to go after Chase or to try to find her cores (and it didn't help that everything looked the same). She opted on heading for the nearest hall and deciding then.

She stopped when she saw the large hangar doors to the desert open. She quickly hid behind some of the crates, watching as a cloud hopper came in and landed. Wind started to blow throughout the room, from both the weather and the machine. A few seconds later, the blades on the cloud hopper slowed, and the hangar doors slid back into place.

'Is that Charlemagne?' she thought, watching carefully. If that was the case, she would have to hurry to find Chase. When she saw the two boys exit out she sighed in relief.

“Wow. Who would’ve thought that they would fall for that fake call. Not one cloud hopper followed us,” Bren said. Jinja ran over.

"Bren! Dax!”

The two of them looked up with surprise, that was quickly replaced with relief. Jinja awkwardly slowed when she saw Dax, her lip twitching. Ignoring the churning in her gut, she focused on Bren. 

“How’d you two get here? How’d you get a cloud hopper?”

“Surprisingly it wasn’t us,” Bren shrugged. Jinja raised a brow. She noticed Beyal wasn’t with them. As she opened her mouth to ask, the monk came stumbling out. A soldier was at his side, and Jinja immediately bared her fists. A larger soldier appeared behind the two.

“Hold on,” they said. Jinja raised a brow. The soldier next to Beyal flipped up the visor of their helmet. Jinja gasped. It was Bekka.

“Wh-Why are the desert wolves here?” she asked, “Don’t tell me One-Eyed Jack drove you three here.”

“Shockingly. No,” Dax said with a shrug, “But it could’ve been worse. If it weren’t for these two we would probably still be in handcuffs with at least half a dozen soldiers here.”

“Sure. But that doesn’t explain why they’re here.” Jinja sniffed. Both Pozzo and Bekka exchanged looks.

"We're here on behalf of Master Ey," Pozzo said. They all perked up at the mention of the old monk, especially Beyal. Bekka put a hand on his shoulder before looking at the rest of them.

“Master Ey had reached out to us. It was surprising,” she said, expression serious, “There is something that is trying to get a hold of Chase Suno and a powerful monsuno energy. If that were to happen-”

"Oh yeah. Where is Chase?" Bren asked. Jinja shot daggers at him for interrupting before sighing.

"He went and locked me out of the room he and Drezz were in," she said, "And I'm pretty sure he's gone off into the base on his own.

"Wait. Drezz is here too?" Dax asked.

"Yeah. It was really weird actualle.I think he wants to-we’re getting off topic!” she said shaking her head quickly, “What did Master Ey have to say about Chase? Why is he in danger?”

~*~*~*~

"... Alright Drezz," Chase said, going back to the cell with the Punk Monk inside once Jinja had left, "Before I let you out. What exactly do you know about the Hand of Destiny?"

Drezz started to chuckle, "Oh I see. You have a bone to pick with them."

Chase was silent. When Drezz started to talk about how the monsuno was extremely powerful, he also spoke about the types of people that would want to use it. It was just a hunch, but Chase had a feeling Drezz wasn’t saying everything he knew. And Chase needed as much information on the Hand of Destiny as possible, especially after meeting with those four in the desert.

"Just tell me what you or Dr. Tallis knows about them," Chase said, crossing his arms. Drezz started to bite at the inside of his cheek in thought.

"Well. Don't know about Dr. Tallis, but _I_ know that there was a group of people in the desert working for the Hand," Drezz said, smirking a bit at Chase's reaction, "They are after rare monsuno. Some that have been forgotten by time."

"Really?" Chase asked, raising a brow. Drezz nodded.

"We actually encounter those four in the desert. They were looking for a certain one that had escaped, but then they left for this base."

"And you're here for the monsuno as well," Chase said, "Is that monsuno the one that the Hand of Destiny is looking for."

Drezz shrugged, "I can't be sure."

Trey, who had been ignored for the most part, suddenly let out a groan. He didn't move immediately, but was certainly waking up.

"Now are you gonna let me out and give you a hand at finding it, or just wander around the base for a while?" Drezz asked. Chase bit his lip. If the Hand really was after the monsuno, he didn't have time to lose (not to mention Charlemagne coming closer every second).

"Okay," Chase said, and unlocked the cell door. Drezz stretched a bit when he got out, then looked to the door that Jinja had gone through.

"I'm guessing your girlfriend is going to be a bit irked," he remarked. Chase flushed around the ears a bit at the comment.

"Ah. Ngn. She's just a friend," he said quickly, "Let's just go through a different way."

Even though there was a part of him that was filled with doubt, Chase knew that he had to find the monsuno on his own. There was another part of him that knew that too much at stake now that they were in the base, and his dream hadn't helped reassure him that everything was fine in the world either.

Which is why he couldn't depend on Jinja, at least for the moment. Even last night she and the rest of his friends wanted to quit. That was time they couldn't afford to waste. Not with his mother on the line.

"This way," Drezz said, stirring Chase from his thoughts. The two of them walked down the hall, and found that it was one of the less occupied ones. Eventually, they reached another room that had a sign above that read "SECURITY."

"Of course. We'll be able to find the monsuno easier with a map and video footage," Chase said to himself. The two of them entered the security room, finding that there was another door on the other side, with computer screens lining the walls. The lights were off, and there was no one else around (which only made Chase feel even more uneasy).

"Alright, hold on a second," Drezz said and walked over to some of the screens. His eyes glanced over them quickly, and then he pointed to the other door, "There's a way to the monsuno through the other door here, but it's got a lot of other rooms and halls to go through."

"Oh," Chase said, and looked over to the other screens on another wall. He saw movement on one of the screens, and walked over. The camera he was looking through was towards the back of the base, and had a familiar face popping out from around a corner, looking out for guards.

"Hey Drezz, your crew showed up," Chase said, turning to the man. Drezz shot up with a look that was mixed with shock and anger. He quickly came over and looked at the screen. The girl (if Chase remembered right, her name was Throttle) was still looking around before darting through the back entrance. A second later, another face popped out. When Drezz spotted them, his expression became blank.

"Oh."

"... Oh?" Chase repeated. Drezz went for the other door.

"You coming?" he asked.

"What about the other Punk Monks? What're they doing here?" Chase asked, raising a brow. Drezz didn't answer, and went through to the back hallway. There was something going on with them, but Drezz wasn't talking. Sighing, Chase gave one last glance to the screens before running after the man, barely missing the image of all _four_ Punk Monks running into the base.

~*~*~*~

The small group migrated away from the cloud hopper, standing closer to the door into the base. Dax kept an eye out in case any soldiers decided to interrupt them. Pozzo cleared his throat.

"Five days ago, Master Ey spoke of a group trying to obtain a forbidden source of monsuno energy,” he explained, “You have seen these monsuno correct?”

Bren pouted a bit, "Yeah. Unfortunately.”

"They have been roaming in the desert for the past two days," Dax said, "They... don't have a controller though. Do they?"

"It's hard to say," Pozzo said, "But it seems that is what the Hand is looking for."

"When Master Ey came to me," Bekka started, looking down a bit as she spoke, "He had shown four people enveloped in a green light encountering your group. Afterwards, a shadow had descended upon the land. As if life had been drained away.”

"Okay okay! It's really bad we get it," Bren said waving his hands a bit. Both Dax and Jinja rolled their eyes.

"... So those people we saw before in that cave were them," Dax said, putting a hand to his chin in thought, "And whatever they did in the desert had to do with those monsuno?"

"It makes sense since those monsuno attacked us right afterwards," Beyal said, then scratched his head a little, "... Right?"

Dax watched him for a moment, remembering the eerie look he had gotten earlier when facing the monsuno earlier.

"I'm afraid that's not all," Bekka continued, "The shadow from before. It lingers over Chase. They plan on using him somehow."

She glanced briefly at Beyal, a movement that didn't go unnoticed by Dax. 

"As much as I hate to say it, Chase has been more absent minded," Jinja sighed, "earlier he had a dream that bothered him. And when Drezz brought up the Hand of Destiny, he became even more distracted."

"Maybe that dream was of attractive women," Bren laughed a bit, only to get glared at by Jinja. He immediately looked to the ground and mumbled an apology.

"No, she's right," Dax said, looking to the ground as well, "That night we were in the canyon, he wanted to leave on his own to find those ruins again. He kept saying that it had to do with the Hand of Destiny, and I got the feeling that there's something about that last encounter that got him so fired up."

"... Then. We should go after him," Beyal said.

Just then, the doors to the hanger reopened. And they all saw a female figure standing there, coat billowing a bit in the wind.

" _That you should!"_ she said, walking forward and eyeing them all with a curt smile.

"Charlemagne," Dax growled under his breath. About time the woman showed up, he was looking forward to a rematch. The woman stopped when she was still a good distance away from them, and took out a core.

"Now that you're all here, tell me where Chase Suno is and I won't let my monsuno rip you all apart," she said, eyeing them all with a predator's stare as the doors to the desert closed behind her. Dax clenched his teeth, and looked around. He wouldn't mind letting Bren and Jinja wander around the base for Chase, but the thought of leaving them with Beyal while something was going on wasn't a risk he was going to take. It was then that he noticed that everyone was eyeing Charlemagne, except for the mute woman, who had a careful eye on the monk. Almost as if she was expecting something...

"... How about I just knock you down a few notches," Dax declared after a moment, taking a few steps towards the Commandant.

"Dax, what are you doing?" Jinja hissed.

"Go find Baby Suno," Dax responded, not bothering to look at the red-haired girl, "The sooner we find him the sooner we’re out of here.”

"... C'mon Jinja," Bren said in a whisper. Dax turned back to them a little to see him trying to tug Jinja along. That's when their gazes finally met. Dax could tell there was a wide range of emotions in her eyes, most of which seemed very distraught (but if it was because of what happened between the two of them or because of Chase, he wasn't sure). She shook her head, and allowed herself to be pulled along by Bren. The group ran off towards the door, but Dax took a hold of Becca's arm as the rest of them got out of earshot.

"... You're keeping something," Dax said, eyes narrowing, "Aren't you?"

She was hesitant, and cast a glance ahead to the group before speaking.

"This shadow... It had extended its reach over Beyal as well," she said, "Whatever those four in the green light want, it has to do with those two."

Dax watched her expression fall. It made sense that she would be so protective over Beyal, seeing that the temple had been taken over by S.T.O.R.M. after Master Ey passing. Still, Dax didn't have the heart to say that something had already gotten to Beyal at this point. Instead, he loosened his grip on her arm and turned back to Charlemagne.

"Go," he said, "I'm leaving them all to you."

It was unlike him to trust some of their many enemies, but with things going south, it was the best option. Dax didn't see the smile that Bekka gave, though he blushed when she leaned close and whispered a thank you in his ear. There was a loud thud as the metal door to the hall closed behind him.

"Zey all must put a lot of trust in you to leave you with me," Charlemagne purred, taking out the multi-launcher, "though it seems a little misplaced."

"Your face will be misplaced once I'm through with you," Dax smirked, pulling out two cores. The woman chuckled darkly.

"Oh dear boy," she said, placing two cores into the slots, "There's a reason why I let zem go and allowed you to stay!"

The two armed their strike launchers.

"Boost! Airswitch!"

"Driftblade! Blackbullet!"

"LAUNCH!"

The cores erupted in a shower of blue and yellow light, four monsuno facing off. 

"Say Charley," Dax said loudly, "What is that you want with that monsuno You got here anyway? You don't seem to mind everyone running around in your base looking for it."

"Oh ho ho. It's not ze monsuno that I am after," Charlemagne laughed, "It is your little group! Driftblade, attack!"

~*~*~*~

They turned another corner, finding nothing but more empty halls. This had gone on for a few minutes, and was making Chase nervous.

"Are we almost there?" he asked in a low voice. There were still soldiers walking around in the halls every so often. Thankfully, Drezz was able to pose as one because of the uniform, which helped give the illusion that Chase was just being escorted to another part of the base whenever they did meet up with another soldier.

"We have two or three more halls to go," Drezz said, peeking around another corner. They had gone about half way through the hall when there was a cold shiver that ran down Chase's spine. He stopped, looking around the other halls, "... Chase?"

Chase shook his head, trying to get this feeling away. It was like something was trying to pull him along towards another direction. He looked in the direction and saw a door at the end of the hall.

"Hold on," Chase said, and walked over. He held the key card up. The door slid open.

The room itself was fairly large and circular, a single light source in the middle, a few workings desks as well. The room glowed blue from the different computers and flood lights on the floor. A variety of glass containers lined the walls, some having glowing lights inside.

"... They're cores," Chase stated, looking at the yellow lights inside the cases. He immediately noticed the only blue ones in the room and quickly went over. He let out a sigh.

"Lock."

He tried opening the case, but found that it stuck fast. He grabbed one of the tools that were on a desk and pried it open. He looked inside to see that all his cores were inside, along with Jinja's.

'I'll have to get them back to her,' he thought, then frowned, 'Maybe she won't be as mad when I do.'

"What'd you find?" Drezz asked.

"Just some help," Chase said, putting his cores back into place, along with Jinja's. He looked around at the rest of the room, trying to find any orange lights, "They didn't take your cores did they?"

Drezz was fidgeting at one of the cases, his back to Chase. When he turned back around DreZz gave the teen an odd look.

"Ah. Didn't bring my monsuno along," he said, not making eye contact as he slipped his hand into his pocket, "It's not like I would need them right? Now let's go."

Chase raised a brow, but followed Drezz out the door. It was a bit odd that he would say that (especially since the Punk Monk's had some of the more powerful monsuno out there). He shrugged it off. They needed to get back on track anyway.

"By the way, what are these monsuno that the Hand is looking for?" Chase asked, "You said before that they are ancient or something like that." Drezz gave him a look, debating of whether to tell Chase or not. He gave a sigh.

"These monsuno. They have been sealed away since monsuno essence had existed," Drezz said, walking forward a bit faster, "Their power is raw, and unrivaled. You know how monsuno have other components combined with monsuno essence in order to create monsuno, right?"

"... Yeah. Dr. Tallis combined machinery with regular monsuno. And others have been combined with other types of DNA," Chase said. After all, Lock had been made from his own DNA, giving them the bond that they had.

"That's right," Drezz nodded, "But you see, these monsuno don't have those impurities. They are made up of nothing but monsuno essence. Truly the purest monsuno in the world."

'And if someone uses these monsuno, they'll be unstoppable,' Chase thought, then turned to Drezz, "So was that what that large burst of energy was in the desert? Someone had caught one? Is it the one that's here?"

"I honestly can't say," Drezz said, "But these monsuno were probably formed when that outburst of energy happened. That or something wrong happened along the way."

"Like what?"

Drezz sighed, looking around the halls as they came to another impasse, "the outburst of energy was probably from the monsuno not being able to physically appear. It had probably stayed in its original essence form and disappeared, got caught, or latched itself to an organic form nearby."

Immediately, images of Jon Ace flashed in Chase's mind.

"... So you're saying that the monsuno's energy could've combined with someone or something?" Chase asked, a bit frantically. The last time that had happened in a large explosion, Jon wound up as a human hybrid, something that his father took ages to cure.

Drezz, surprisingly, shook his head.

"Not combined. More like... Possess," he said, "this energy isn't as unstable as the stuff S.T.O.R.M. uses. Like I said, it's just pure energy. If anything, it would be more along the lines of an actual consciousness. Which is why they don't need all those other components like regular monsuno."

Chase was silent. So this monsuno had become less physical and was now possessing something out there... Possessing...

He gasped in realization, making Drezz jump a bit.

"Drezz," he said, "What if it possessed a _person_? Is it possible for them to become a monsuno hybrid?"

Drezz gave him a confused look, "Well. I'm not sure what a monsuno hybrid is. If anything, it would be along the lines of a parasite. Feeding off of the person or thing until it dies. Then it would probably move onto the next living thing nearby."

Chase bit his lip, remembering the last thing that Dax had told him yesterday. So they weren't talking to Beyal yesterday at all.

They were talking to a monsuno.


	8. Chapter 8

"Coast looks clear," Throttle said under her breath, looking around the corner. She quickly ran over to the next corner, looking around again for any sign of S.T.O.R.M. troops. Finding none, she shouted back, "Clear!"

Ratchet was the next to run out, also taking heed as to not wander too far into the next hall. There was a loud thud, followed by a grunt, and the two of them looked back to the door they ran through.

"Urg…! Stupid suitcase.!"

"Careful with that, Tinker! The last thing we need is the Wild Core bomb going off with us near it!" Throttle hissed. The man stumbled out, carrying the large case.

"Erk…! You want to hold this thing?" He huffed, and stumbled forward, "Hey, Drezz. Why'd Dr. Tallis want this place blown up again?"

"Because he doesn’t like being tricked. Duh," Drezz replied, trailing behind them, "That message he intercepted was meant for Suno’s group. And I don’t think the professor likes being a messenger-"

"Halt!"

They all turned to see a commander of S.T.O.R.M. standing at the end of the hall. He looked at them all before his eyes widened in surprise, staring directly at Drezz.

"I warned you before about wandering these halls the first time you came through here!" he shouted. The Punk Monk just gave a confused look, and turned to the rest of his crew, who just shrugged. The commander reached for his belt. “You better tell me where Suno went, or things'll get messy!"

"Why would I know where Chase Suno is at? It's not like I'm his babysitter," Drezz said, only to get an angry look shot at him. The commander grit his teeth, and aimed his strike launcher at them. Before he could shoot, the three Punk Monks charged forward. Throttle and Tinker grabbed his arms while Ratchet tackled him to the ground. They stood, the commander knocked out.

"Nice job," Drezz said.

"What do you think he meant?" Tinker asked. Drezz's expression hardened a bit.

"You mean about Drezz being here already?" Ratchet asked, then clenched her fist, "Probably those no good creeps that got the jump on us last night."

…..

_The S.T.O.R.M. ships had swarmed the area almost immediately. The Punk Monks all looked on as the soldiers swept down into the canyon where Chase was facing off against two different monsuno, one of which was gray and white like the rogue mountain lion monsuno they saw earlier._

_“You think we should stop them?” Tinker asked._

_“Nah. Dr. Tallis wanted Suno to go to the S.T.O.R.M. base to get that monsuno there.,” Drezz said as he stood, “Looks like this made our job easier-”_

_A low chuckle came from behind them. They all quickly turned to see someone in a brown cloak. Under it was some sort of greenish skin suit, only going down to their ankles and wrists._

_"Who are you?" Drezz asked._

_“No one of importance,” they responded. Whoever they were didn’t sound like a kid. “I’m gonna need you to stay out of the way for a little bit.”_

_Without another word, they surged forward at a blinding speed before pouncing at him. Drezz let out a gasp before he hit the ground._

_"Drezz!"_

_He looked up, but found that he was staring into two pools of bright green that shimmered beneath the hood of the person. He felt a pain in his head that only got worse as he tried to look away._

_“Get away from him!”_

_The one above him jumped off. Drezz felt a pair of hands shift him into a sitting position._

_"Drezz?"_

_"Can you hear us?"_

_He looked around, seeing his comrades worried looks. Before he could respond, there was laughter in the air._

_"Thanks for the look!" An oddly familiar voice said. When Drezz looked forward, he could've sworn that he was looking into a mirror as the figure’s hood dropped. “I’ll be sure to pay the favor back later!”_

_With that, the other Drezz leapt off the side of the cliff towards the S.T.O.R.M. soldiers._

_….._

Drezz shook his head at the memory. His fist clenched a little.

  
“If that commander was implying what I think he was," Drezz said, turning to the hall that the commander came from, "Then maybe we can get a little payback before we blow this place!"

His team nodded, all having eager looks on their faces.

~*~*~*~

The small group ran through the halls cautiously, trying to figure out the best route to get back to Chase. The more they ran, the more awake Beyal felt. The ride in the helicopter wasn't too bad. Although it wasn't too good with the turbulence the whole time. Despite it being clear at dawn, clouds had darkened the skies outside. 

"Now which way?" Bren asked as they stopped. Beyal was stirred out of his thoughts and looked up to see three separate halls ahead of them.

"Well, Chase had locked himself in a hall that led more into the center of the base. And I'm sure that would be towards the right," Jinja said, and took off in that direction. They all followed, getting to another set of halls afterwards that looked exactly like the last.

"This place is just one big maze," Bren grumbled, "There's gotta be an easier way to find him."

Beyal thought for a moment, closed his eyes, and let out a steady breath. If he could try to focus enough, maybe he could find Chase's presence (or at least his monsuno), or get some sort of vision. A hand on his shoulder made him jump a little, and he saw Bekka giving him a look.

"... What is it?" he asked.

"Maybe... We should just try to find Chase," she said, almost silently, "You know... Without monsuno sight."

He raised a brow, but nodded a little. He had to admit that there was something wrong, especially with his headaches. That only made him want to meditate even more to find out the answer, but knew it wasn't the time for that.

"By the way," Bren said as they went down another hall, a bit slower this time, "Did Master Ey say anything about the monsuno that have been running around? You know. The white ones?"

Both Pozzo and Bekka stopped, and exchanged a worrying look.

"The monsuno are rare, to say the least," Bekka said, "Master Ey spoke about how... Pure they are. They have more raw energy than any monsuno ever created."

Beyal frowned. Those monsuno were certainly _different_. Especially in how they made their own monsuno turn against one another. 

"And I'm guessing Master Ey also said what would happen if they fell into the wrong hands?" Jinja asked. Bekka nodded.

"He said that the group- The Hand of Destiny- are planning on using the monsuno's energy for their own," she said, then looked up at Beyal, "he also said that-"

Suddenly, the halls were blanketed in darkness. The buzz of electricity from the lights and the walls going dead. A few seconds later, the floodlights on the ground lit up.

"What's going on?" Bren asked, a bit shaky.

"I don't know!" Jinja hissed as they all stood still for a moment. There were footsteps that were echoing throughout the halls, but it was hard to tell where they were coming from. Staying silent, they could hear soldiers approaching.

"Someone cut the lights!"

"Which way to the main breaker?"

"Two floors down!"

"This way!" Jinja said, running back the way they came. Having no other option, the group followed. But with the halls darkened it was hard to tell if they were going back to the hanger or further into the base.

" _..."_

They walked silently, picking up their pace as the base's silence became eerie. It didn't help that the lights on the floor barely illuminated the path in front of them.

_"… This way."_

Beyal slowed down until he came to a stop, blinking. He looked around at the other halls that were around, knowing that voice wasn't from any guard. There was a flash of white down one of the halls. He watched it for a moment. Bekka was the first to notice he stopped.

"... Beyal?"

He stood still, waiting for the flash to appear again. Instead, he heard a strange sigh. He took off.

"Beyal wait!" Bekka shouted after him. He could hear the others talking, following along behind him. He couldn't explain it, but there was something in the back of his mind that seemed to hint at going that way. He ran down a few more turns, almost losing the others in the dark, until he stopped in front of a metal door. There was a hum of energy behind it, and a chill ran down his back.

"Ugh! Give us a heads up next time!" Bren panted. Hesitating, Beyal pushed the button to the door, a little surprised it worked still. The room was dark inside.

"Where are we now?" Jinja asked, looking around for some sort of light. The guards footsteps could be heard coming closer, and Pozzo ushered them in. He quickly shut the door while they all waited.   
  
Beyal shuffled forward until something bumped against his foot. He reached forward, feeling a solid surface in front of him. As soon as he did, light appeared. After adjusting, the group could see the light was actually coming from a dozen computer screens in front of them.

"... I'm guessing this is one of the labs," Bren said, walking up to a few of the smaller screens, "Probably for research."

"Is there any way you can hack into the security system and find Chase?" Jinja asked. Bren sat down and started typing into the computer. After a minute, he shook his head.

"I don't think so," he said, his brow furrowing, "It's weird. This computer has a lot less files than a typical S.T.O.R.M. computer but I can’t get to the main- Oops!"

A file opened up, papers and pictures popping up on the different screens in a flash. Jinja immediately punched Bren in the shoulder.

"Good going, genius! Now they'll know we were here!" she said.

"It's not my fault! I wasn't expecting all this to come out," Bren said, waving his hands in defense, “Look. I’ll just put them back and-“

Beyal looked over a few of the pictures that were displayed. He stopped when he saw a picture of rock indentations.

"What's that?" he asked, pointing at it. They all followed his line of sight.

"That... Looks familiar," Jinja said, squinting. Bren suddenly gasped and snapped his fingers.

"I got it! It's from the jumpdrive!" he exclaimed, and started digging in his pockets.

"Really? I don't remember the rock being that smooth..." Jinja said, looking closer.

"N-no. It's the same marks, just a different rock," Bren said, still digging in his pockets,"Huh. Maybe I dropped it somewhere..."

"Dropped what?" Beyal asked. Bren shot him a look.

"The jumpdrive from Dr. Tallis," he said, "Don't you remember?"

Beyal's gaze fell in thought. When did they get that? Was that what Chase got from the Punk Monks? He could hardly remember. Jinja saw his expression and immediately folded her arms with a glare at Bren.

"... Why do you keep giving me that look?" Bren said, only to be glared at even more, "eh... Ok. Sorry Beyal."

The monk shook his head, "No. It's fine. It's just a little strange is all." 

Despite not seeing the image or the markings, a part of him found it familiar.

"Hmm… Oh well. I lost it," Bren said, then looked back at the screen. He paused for a moment before taking out the Core Tablet and plugging it into the screen.

"Bren. What are you doing now," Jinja asked, annoyed.

"I'm finding out where S.T.O.R.M. took this picture," Bren said, "There's gotta be some connection between this picture and the monsuno that Dr. Tallis wanted us to find. Or even why Dr. Tallis sent us the file."

"Why? What's so special about the monsuno here?" Beyal asked. Bren immediately stopped typing, and bit his lip. Jinja noticed the change and cleared her throat.

"Um. Beyal, don't you remember what we talked about last night? How the monsuno is… um… similar to another?" she said. Beyal gave her a blank look and shook his head.

"What monsuno? Is there another one of those white ones in the base?" Bekka asked, joining into the conversation. Bren had gone back to typing, as Jinja scratched her head.

"Well... Yesterday we got a message from Dr. Tallis," she said, addressing more to Beyal then the Desert Wolves, "He wanted us to come to this base because there was a powerful monsuno that S.T.O.R.M. had caught. It was similar to... well-"

Bren muttered something under his breath, a bit sullenly. There was a beep on the screen.

"Found it!" he said, immediately perking up, "This picture was taken in the desert. Towards the north."

A map appeared on one of the larger screens, showing where the base was and the rest of the area. Another dot started to flash up towards the top of the continent they were on.

"Didn't Chase say something about going up north yesterday?" Jinja said, putting a hand to her chin in thought.

"He said a lot of things yesterday. Honestly, I think the desert just got to him," Bren said, copying over the map to the Core Tablet. 

Jinja rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean."

“Sure sure. Well. In a few minutes we’ll have the precise location,” Bren said, leaning back. The bar on the downloading screen barely moved as seconds went by.

Knowing it was going to take awhile, Beyal walked a few steps away and sat down in the shadows of the room. He looked to the others for a brief moment, noting how distracted they were, and closed his eyes. They really didn't have time to be wandering like they were. He only needed one vision...

His breath became steady and slow, keeping his body still. The others’ voices were becoming more muted as his thoughts cleared. It was like falling asleep, but he was suddenly jerked awake when he heard a new voice.

”...”

Instead of seeing the dark room and the other four standing around the bright screens, he was back in the desert cave.

"...How," he muttered to himself. He had many visions before, but none where he felt physically in another place. The visions were more like images going on replay. Even now, the cold wind going through the caverns sent a shiver down his spine.

"..." 

He quickly looked around. There was no one else.

"Hello? Is someone there?" he asked.

There was a roar echoing, and when he turned around, he could've sworn he saw something white move-

There was a loud screech, and Beyal quickly turned to see a large serpent-like creature appear at the far end of the cavern. It quickly surged forward at him. 

~*~*~*~

"Is it almost done yet? We’ve been waiting forever, and I don’t think the S.T.O.R.M. soldiers are going to wait," Jinja sassed as Bren continued to type furiously away. They were all still gathered around the computer as footsteps and shouts from the guards got closer. If it came down to it, they could shut the screens off and hide somewhere in the pitch black room (though Bren imagined the guards would find them easily if the electricity had come back on).

"It's not that easy to copy secret files you know. They're all encrypted," he said, not looking up, "We're just lucky that decoding isn't that hard when it comes to S.T.O.R.M. files. You'd imagine they'd have more security-"

Someone gasped, and he looked back to see Bekka staring to the side. Bren followed her gaze and saw that she was looking at Beyal, who was just meditating a few feet away.

"... What? He does that sometimes," he said. She shook her head.

"No. It's-"

The door flew open, and S.T.O.R.M. soldiers swept into the room.

"All of you, hands up!" one demanded. Bren's hands flew up without hesitation. Jinja gave a sigh, but held hers up as well, followed by the two Desert Wolves.

"... Hey you," one soldier said, tapping on Beyal's shoulder with the barrel of his gun, "Wake up-"

Beyal's eyes shot open, and he grabbed onto the gun, pulling the soldier down. The man was caught off guard and lost his footing. Without hesitating, Beyal slamming him to the ground. The other soldiers stood dumbly for a second before Beyal caught a hold of the nearest one and threw him backwards with an equal amount of force as the last. One of the guards raised their gun, but Beyal kicked it, making gunshots fire across the room.

"Get down!"

Bren was yanked to the ground as some of the shots hit the computer screens, showering them with glass. He could hear the grunts and shouts of the guards, but didn't dare to look up. It finally got silent after a few seconds. Bren looked up to see Beyal crouched over some of the guards as he stood in the doorway, light from the hall illuminating the dim room.

"W-wow Beyal!" Jinja said, amazed, standing up slowly. Bren looked around and saw that all the guards were sprawled out on the ground out cold. He let out a steady breath, and stood as well. As soon as he did, Bekka and Pozzo stood in front of the two of them.

"Stay back," the large man said, him and the mute woman now glaring out at the monk. Jinja gave a confused look, she and Bren peeking over their shoulders. Beyal stood up, looking at them all with cold, green eyes.

~*~*~*~

"Driftblade, Burst barrage!"

"Airswitch, Lightning claw!"

Explosions resounded throughout the room. Dax had been cornered behind some of the jeeps as Charlemagne stood out in the open as the monsuno brawled. A yellow flash came close, and he ducked down before seeing something quickly go backwards for an attack.

"Boost, go towards the right!" he exclaimed and saw a swift movement in front of him. His monsuno was quickly tackled to the ground by the second, and he cursed.

"Oh, you foolish boy," Charlemagne chuckled, "You really 'ave no chance in beating me."

"I think you got your facts mixed up lady, 'cause you're the one that has no chance," Dax shouted back. Charlemagne started to laugh darkly.

"You would actually be quite interested in the facts that I 'ave," she said, her voice dripping with malice, "some that even you would find interesting."

"Sure you do lady," Dax said, rolling his eyes a bit, "Airswitch, sonic screech!"

The monsuno let out a howl that soon gave way to an open attack. The monsuno the let out a beam of blue light, narrowly missing Driftblade and hitting the wall. Wind started to howl throughout the room as a hole became visible through the smoke. Charlemagne started to laugh even more.

"You'll have to do better than that! Blackbullet, Sonic Rain!"

Beams of yellow showered down upon them. Airswitch took the brunt of the hit and let out a cry. Blackbullet roared, and charged right past the blue monsuno and towards Dax. Boost leapt up and dragged it to the ground. Dax cursed before he heard something behind him. He turned quickly to see Driftblade on top of the jeeps, snarling.

"Well, well. I guess that's the end of this little game," Charlemagne sighed, walking up to him, glancing at the other three monsuno battling each other,"though I guess it was to be expected."

Charlemagne made a motion to Driftblade to back off a little. "I'm a little disappointed zat you would all come here so willingly though. Didn't even question the information you got on the monsuno."

Dax stopped and eyed the woman.

"What did you say?"

"You heard me," she said, her eyes gleaming, "How else would Dr. Tallis gain top secret information on some powerful monsuno? Especially from S.T.O.R.M.? I left the information out there for him to take, knowing it would fall into Suno’s hands.”

Boost and Airswitch were both struggling to fight against Blackbullet while trying to get to Dax and Charlemagne. Dax stayed still at what the woman revealed. He scoffed. She had purposely let Dr. Tallis get information, and probably told him to give the jumpdrive to Chase.

"So the whole thing was a trap," he said, "You made all that info up just to get us down here."

Charlemagne shrugged, "Not all of it. Just on the monsuno that we 'captured.' Quite the coincidence that there would be a powerful monsuno already running around, ne?"

Dax looked to the ground. So they had been playing this whole time. Not just by Dr. Tallis, but by Charlemagne.

"Oh. Don't look so down, boy," Charlemagne said, crossing her arms, "You'll be reunited with your friends soon enough!"

" _Oh I don't think so my dear Charlemagne!"_ A voice boomed theatrically. Both Dax and Charlemagne turned to the large hole that was blasted a few minutes ago to see a figure standing there, arms on their hips dramatically as their figure was silhouetted.

" _For you see, justice will always strike down on the guilty!"_ With that, the figure launched a core straight at Driftblade, and from the core burst a red, snarling monsuno. It immediately tackled into Driftblade. Dax looked over to see the person from before walking closer, staring defiantly at Charlemagne. She only sneered.

"Jack," she said, unamused. The one-eyed man continued to glare before smirking.

"Freedomstriker, burning thunder!"

~*~*~*~

Chase and Drezz had been wandering from room to room. Even when the lights went out, Chase was hoping he would run into Jinja so that they could leave the base as soon as possible. Every empty corridor they would go down only made him more anxious.

'How could I have been so blind,' he thought to himself, thinking back to what Drezz had told him about the monsuno. Dax had tried to tell him last night that something was wrong with Beyal, but he was so caught up in finding his mother that he thought it was nothing. He thought it was just some other type of vision or something (he still wasn't accustomed to the whole Monsuno sight thing). But now it could be something worse.

He bit his lip in frustration. It had only been a day since they got to the desert, and already he was being a lousy leader. Sure, at one point he left the group on their own, but that was different. He could've easily helped Bren and Beyal instead of fighting Alpha. He could've listened to Dax.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that Chase ended up walking into Drezz's back. He mumbled an apology when he stepped back, but saw why Drezz had stopped. For some reason he had a strange look in his eyes that was unreadable.

"… Is something wrong?" Chase asked. That stirred Drezz from his thoughts, and he looked at Chase absently.

"… No," he said slowly,"… We should go to the left."

"Why?" Chase asked. Up to this point he wasn't questioning where they were going, but it had been a while since he left Jinja. Chase was getting nervous.

"There's a monsuno," Drezz simply said. Before Chase could respond, he heard another voice speak to him in a hushed tone.

" _Go left, Chase."_

He quickly looked around, thinking that it was someone behind him. When it spoke again, he realized whose voice it was.

" _Hurry! You have to go with him."_

Despite it being Sophia’s voice, the urgency in her tone was wrong. There was something about it that made him go cold. He took a step back. 

Drezz took a few steps before realizing Chase wasn’t following. “Hey. Suno let’s go-”

Chase turned around and ran in the other direction.

"W-wait! Chase get back here!" Drezz called, not moving from his spot. The teen didn't bother to respond, and kept running down the twists and turns. He shouldn’t have hesitated in finding his mother, but-

Just as he turned a corner, he was face to face with three soldiers. One of them spotted him, immediately holding up their gun.

"Don't move!"

"H-hey there," Chase stuttered out, raising his arms slightly. One of the soldiers gave a scoff under their breath.

Before they could get near, there was an explosion that filled the hall with smoke. Chase coughed, trying to look through it. There were a few grunts and shouts. When the smoke cleared, the Punk Monks were coming out of the remains of the metal wall. One of the soldiers that avoided the blast raised their gun. 

"Freeze! All of you!" 

One of the Punk Monks, Ratchet, saw him and let out a snort.

"Here! Catch!" Tinker exclaimed as he threw a small metal ball at the soldier. It burst into a shower of sparks, and the soldier let out a strangled sound before falling to the ground unconscious. Chase stood still. Throttle finally noticed him.

"Hey, Drezz. Suno's here," she said, shouting through the hole in the wall. Drezz stepped out, although he was now wearing his regular attire. He gave a surprised look when he saw Chase.

"Huh. It took you this long to escape?" Drezz asked, stepping out and shaking his head. He looked up and down the halls, walking past Chase as he did so. Finally he turned to the others, "So which way?"

Tinker walked up to the intersection, holding out a device as he turned to every hall.

"... This way," Tinker said, pointing to the left. Drezz nodded, and signaled the rest to follow.

"W-wait!" Chase shouted, and Drezz stopped with a slightly annoyed look.

"What?"

Chase raised a brow, then frowned "Isn't the monsuno over in that hall? You said it yourself. And when did you meet up with the rest of the Punk Monks?"

"What do you mean ‘I said’?" Drezz asked, "I haven't seen you around since yesterday in the desert."

Chase's eyes widened, and he pursed his lips a bit, "But you were just here. You were looking for the monsuno in the base- you got caught by Trey earlier."

Drezz raised a brow, then his expression lightened. “Oh. That."

"What do you mean 'that'? What's going on?"

Drezz chuckled. "You've been had, Suno. Charlemagne sent out info on purpose in order to lure you and your little group. Dr. Tallis thought it was legit, and sent it out without another thought."

The man shifted a bit before continuing. "We've already swept through the entire base. Nothing. Nada. And, _I_ suggest you get going since this place goes up in flames in a few minutes."

"Wait. Did you set off another wild core bomb here?" Chase asked. Drezz shrugged.

"Dr. Tallis doesn't like being tricked. He would rather have the whole place razed to the ground."

Chase looked down. The Punk Monks were probably the ones that caused the lights to go out.

"I'd say you have thirty more minutes before the bomb goes off," Drezz said, then looked to the rest of his crew. They nodded, and took off down the hall.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Chase asked.

"To the aircraft hangar of course," Drezz said over his shoulder, running after the rest of the Punk Monks. Chase took one last look around before running with them. Hopefully he could meet Jinja on the way. Otherwise, he would have to run around the base till the last second.

"By the way Drezz, how’d you run into your gang?”

”What are you talking about?”

"Well. You got caught by S.T.O.R.M.” Chase said, “We've been running around the base for the past hour or so."

Drezz stopped, and gave him a very confused look.

"’We?’ That desert must've gotten to you Suno," he said, scratching the back of his neck, "I actually just got here with the rest of my crew. Been with them the whole time."

Chase's eyes widened, and he backed up. "N-no. You were here. We talked about the Hand of Destiny and the rogue monsuno that have been running around."

Drezz made a face, then snapped his fingers in realization.

"Oh," he said, "So you saw _it_."

"'It'? What do you mean 'it'?" Chase asked. He could feel a sensation prickling in the back of his mind, but he ignored it as he looked back and forth between the group.

"Tell me Suno. When was the last time you saw me?" Drezz asked, "Where was I last?"

Chase's shoulders sagged in disbelief, but didn't respond.

"Well. Sorry to say but that wasn't me," Drezz said, starting to turn back to the hall, "And whatever _it_ is, will have to deal with the real Drezz soon enough." 

He turned back to his group." Let's go."

The Punk Monks nodded, and took off down the hall. Drezz cast one last glance at Chase before charging after them. Chase stood silently, looking ahead at the last spot he saw them.

...Was he losing it? He was sure that Drezz was here. Even Jinja saw. And if that wasn't him, who was it? Unless it was some sort of shapeshifter-

He sucked in a breath. Shapeshifter...

"… The Hand of Destiny!" he exclaimed, taking off after the Punk Monks. No wonder that other Drezz knew a lot about the Hand of Destiny and the monsuno. He- _it_ was probably working for them. And that was why it didn't want Chase running off on his own in case he ran into the real Drezz.

And now that thing was running around the base as well.


	9. Chapter 9

‘Drezz’ stood in the security office, watching the different groups of people running up and down the halls. S.T.O.R.M. soldiers were all fleeing as soon as the alarm went off. He couldn't help but scoff at that.

"Well... Since the monsuno wasn't really here, might as well take off," he said. But stopped when something caught his eye. The four from before that followed Dr. Tallis were there, skulking about in the halls.

"I guess that explains the wild core bomb and the alarms going off," he said, then laughed to himself, "It's a good thing me and Suno didn't meet up with them. Would've been confusing to see _two_ Punk Monk leaders running around."

He glanced up at one of the blank screens, admiring his current appearance as the leader of the Punk Monks, and smirked. He could've easily posed as a guard, but that would've made it much harder to gain Suno's trust.

He didn’t exactly trust Tesserah to do her job of getting Suno back to the ruins. Still, Suno was a lot more gullible than he thought.

"Speaking of Tesserah, might as well meet up with the other three. Triah and Exi must’ve found out where the monsuno went by now," he sighed. He just hoped that they managed to find it. Then all the pieces would be coming into place-

He paused when he saw the rest of Suno’s group wandering in one of the halls. His eyes narrowed further when he noticed that they were all following the white-haired teen. Except his eyes were glowing a green color. 

A grin twisted on ‘Drezz’s’ lips. "Well well. Look who I found.“

He turned to leave, his own eyes also shining green.

  
  


~*~*~*~

The small group walked in silence, trailing a few steps behind Beyal. The air was tense, and none of them dared to speak out.

Earlier, as soon as Beyal noticed that none of the guards were conscious, he simply walked out of the room without another word. Not wanting to get separated, Jinja and Bren followed along (to the dismay of the Desert Wolves, who were also a few steps behind). Bren thought about asking questions to the monk, but noticed there was a change in his presence, much like before in the desert and the cave when they met Dom Pyro.

"Where's he going?" Jinja whispered to Bren. The hall lights would occasionally flicker on and off for a few seconds, making the group jump every so often.

"How am I supposed to know? Maybe to find the monsuno here?" Bren hissed, glancing down at the core tablet. He had managed to get the location of where the picture was taken before the soldiers destroyed the computers, but now they had to find Chase, the monsuno in the base, and possibly help Dax with Charlemagne.

Beyal abruptly stopped, as did the rest of them. The group watched as he looked back and forth between two halls, before turning to look at them. When the hall lights continued to flicker off, his eyes glistened the strange green hue as he stared back at them. He slowly looked at each of them (and Bren felt a chill at the cold stare), until he finally locked eyes with Jinja.

"Y _ou with monsuno sight,"_ he said, his voice seeming to echo. They all stepped back a bit, " _Where is Chase Suno?"_

The group was silent, in both confusion and awe all at once. Both Bren and Jinja exchanged looks, not knowing what to do. Beyal had his eyes fixed in a cold gaze at Jinja, unfazed.

"Umm..." Jinja gaped, and cleared her throat, "He's... Somewhere in the base…?"

Beyal's expression softened a bit, then closed his eyes. The air seemed to hum with energy, and after a moment, he turned to leave. No one made the move to stop him, though they all still hesitated to follow.

"W-wait," Jinja finally said. "Who are you? You're not Beyal."

There was an odd expression on Beyal's face as he turned around. His eyes locked onto Bekka, who shifted uncomfortably from his gaze.

"S _he was right when she said that the Hand was looking for an ancient monsuno,"_ he said, then looked back at Jinja, " _You have to stop them before it's too late."_

"Hold on," Jinja said, "Who are you and what have you done to Beyal?"

The teen gave her a thoughtful look before closing his eyes.

 _"You know of the prophecy of the five tribes, yes?"_ he asked. Bren and Jinja exchanged looks again. The prophecy of the five tribes stated that five controllers of monsuno would save the world from destruction. They had all assumed it was their group, especially from the way Master Ey spoke about it.

"… What about it?" Bren asked.

 _"You do know their purpose, correct?"_ Beyal asked, only to receive blank stares.

"To save the world…?" Bren asked hesitantly. Beyal gave Bren a slightly annoyed look, and let out a sigh.

 _"I suppose I'll start from the beginning to make it easier,_ " He started _, "Long ago, monsuno energy came from a meteor, pouring out from the world in abundance. However, it was also extremely unstable. That is where the Five Tribes came into place. The Five Tribes had more than one purpose. When the monsuno essence was unstable, they created seals across the world in order to keep the energy at bay."_

 _"It was from that energy that we were made,"_ Beyal continued, " _In order to create the seals, the Five Tribes created the purest monsuno in order to combat the pure energy. From there on, we were bound to the seals."_

 _"_ We?"

" _...Yes,"_ Beyal said, his green eyes now going to the ground, " _the Original monsuno of the Five Tribes. And that's what the Hand of Destiny is after. A source of pure monsuno energy that rivals that of the Wellspring in the Valley of the Five. The monsuno essence burrowing into the planet’s core has destabilized it all, allowing the Hand to release us.”_

Bren crossed his arms. He bought that there was untapped monsuno energy that the Hand of Destiny were after (especially considering how they stumbled upon the monsuno plant monster in the jungle). But why now? And what did that have to do with the rogue monsuno? They were certainly powerful, and had no controllers...

"So… Is that what you are?" Jinja asked hesitantly. Bren's eyes widened at the comment, and Beyal only stared blankly for a moment before nodding slowly.

"Y _esterday, when the hand attempted to release one of the seals I was released as well."_

Both Bren and Jinja were silent. Judging from the levels of monsuno essence, it certainly added up. Bren remembered the burst of energy, then how it got extremely bright. And then...

"So... That beam of light that hit Beyal," Jinja started, "That was you."

" _Unfortunately,"_ Beyal said, closing his eyes, " _I wanted to possess Chase Suno. While the monk is more in tune with monsuno essence, Chase has power that is raw and untouched. Something that even he doesn't know. At the time, however-"_ Beyal opened his eyes, narrowing them a bit in disgust, " _those people... They did something to him-"_

Alarms suddenly went off, and red lights started to flash throughout the hall. A voice intercom also went off in a deafening call.

"ATTENTION! EVACUATE THE BASE! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! ATTENTION-"

"Jinja, I think we ought to get out of here," Bren said, his eyes weary when he looked to Beyal. He wasn't entirely buying the idea of Beyal being… _possessed_ by a monsuno, and there was also what this had to do with Chase, the Hand of Destiny, and the monsuno that have been running around. Jinja shot him a look, then turned back to Beyal.

"So what's wrong with Chase? And how do we stop the Hand?"

" _Luckily, the Hand has only captured three of the monsuno,"_ he replied, " _Besides me, the last had been awakened because of the release of energy. I suspect it will be heading for my seal on its own after seeking out more users of monsuno sight. "_

"uh... And where would this seal of yours be?" Bren asked. Beyal tilted his head before going to Bren. The teen took a few steps back as Beyal took the Core Tablet from his hands. He pushed a button before holding it out again.

_"It’s where you ran into the Hand’s followers yesterday. The real entrance is to the north where these ruins are.”_

Bren looked down at the tablet, his hands gripping it a bit tighter. He saw the message from Tallis’ jumpdrive in view.

“Oh! So. Uh. Going off topic... Is there a monsuno in the base?" Bren asked. He wasn't actually sure if Beyal would know, but it didn't hurt to ask. Beyal's eyes seemed to soften when he saw Bren's expression.

" _I'm afraid the monsuno you are looking for has long passed,"_ he said, more directly to Bren than anyone else. For a moment, Bren was going to ask what he meant, but then remembered the description of the monsuno that Dr. Tallis sent. His eyes widened, and his gaze dropped when he realized what Beyal was implying.

"I… I know that," Bren said in a hushed tone, "But… Is there one here?"

Beyal shook his head, and didn't say anything else.

"Wait. There _isn't_ a monsuno here?" Jinja asked, "Does that mean Dr. Tallis tricked us?"

"Actually." 

Their attention went to Bekka, who suddenly decided to join in the conversation. "If it helps, Master Ey did speak of something important to be found here at the base. Though I'm sure it had to do with the location of the uh… Cave."

Beyal suddenly dropped to his knees. Jinja dropped down to his side, while the others seemed to be in a stunned silence.

"What's wrong?" she asked. He looked up with half-lidded eyes, holding his head.

" _I can't possess the monk for much longer,"_ he said, " _You have to hurry to the Cave. Once you all stop the Hand, I can regain my form and restore the rest of the monsuno.”_

Before anyone could interject, Beyal's eyes rolled back and he fell forward. Jinja managed to catch him before he hit the floor, and exchanged a worrying look to Bren.

"Bren," Jinja said, arms encircled around Beyal, "Go meet up with Dax and get out of here."

"… What?"

"I’ll go find Chase," she said, "Take Beyal, find Dax, and meet us back out in the desert."

Bren stood dumbly before shaking his head, "Wait. So we're _going_ to listen to the uh... Monsuno? I don't think you've realized it, but we're smack dab in the middle of S.T.O.R.M. headquarters. It's not like we'll just be able to walk right out the door. And you probably forgot but Dax is fighting Charlemagne right now!"

Jinja bit her lip. She hadn't forgotten that they left Dax to fight alone, and who knows if he was even fairing well against the Commandant.

"Look Bren," Jinja said, "Chase has been acting really weird lately. You may not have seen it, but _I_ have. And one thing's for sure, it involves the Hand of Destiny!"

She shouted the last part, making Bren flinch. Chase really was acting out, even to the point of locking her in another part of the base without her monsuno. She let out a sigh, knowing that she shouldn't have taken it out on Bren (even if he did deserve to be yelled at sometimes). Bekka knelt down next to Jinja, giving a reassuring smile.

"We'll look after these two," she said, leaning Beyal against her so that Jinja could stand, "Don't worry. It's why Master Ey sent us after all."

Jinja looked down at the mute woman, knowing she could be trusted. She didn't put it against Master Ey to send them help. And Bekka was Beyal's sister, so the chances of the Desert Wolves pulling a fast one was very unlikely.

"Alright," Jinja said, and Bekka nodded. Jinja looked back to Bren. "If it comes down to it, just get out of here as soon as possible."

Before he could interject again, she took off down one of the halls. Jinja bolted down every turn and twist, trying to get enough distance between her and the group. She knew Bren wouldn't believe her about Chase acting weird, and traveling in a group would only slow things down.

She stopped after a while, realizing the halls became somewhat familiar. It took her a minute to realize why, and inwardly groaned.

"I'm heading back to the hangar," she sighed. Looks like she’s have to double back and-

Jinja turned the corner and ran straight into someone. Immediately she leapt backwards. Jinja tensed, then relaxed somewhat when she saw who it was.

"Drezz? Where's Chase," she demanded with a frown. He looked at her passively, as if examining her. He was still wearing the S.T.O.R.M. uniform, most likely to get around the base more easily. "… Well?"

"Chase is… in the base," he said, eyes not leaving her. She started to shift uncomfortably under his gaze, and when she looked up at his eyes, she glared. He eventually looked behind her. "Where is the rest of your group?"

Jinja frowned at him, and didn't answer. How did Drezz know that they were in the base? Or was he just guessing?

"How about you just tell me where Chase is at," she said. He started to chuckle darkly, mouth twisting into a smirk. His eyes seemed to gleam a bit in the red emergency light that still shone in the halls.

"I'll tell you," he said darkly. Before she could say anything, he grabbed her throat and slammed her against the wall. She gasped, gripping at his hand. He forced her to look forward, eyes now _glowing_. "As soon as we go and see your little friends!"

"D-Dr-Drezz…!" She croaked. He slid her up the wall till her legs were left dangling in the air a bit. She felt lightheaded, desperately fighting off the urge to faint. She tried looking away from his eyes, but the glow was hypnotic. 

Pain erupted between her temples. Her vision got dark, and she didn't even realize that Drezz's face had started to contort. Features getting small and slimmer. Lips getting a bit fuller, hair growing out and changing color.

" _Not anymore,_ " he said, voice starting to get higher in pitch.

The last thing she heard before everything went dark was the hall filling up with a shrill laughter.

Her _own_ laughter.

~*~*~*~

Chase silently cursed to himself as he ran down the halls along with the Punk Monks. They didn't pay attention to him, more concentrated with finding a way out (which was fine with him). 

He was so caught up in his own thoughts and feelings about the Hand of Destiny that he failed to question things. Even more, he left Jinja somewhere in the base without her monsuno. Not to mention leaving the rest of his friends in the desert with the rogue monsuno raging about. If anything, he only put them all into more danger.

Chase cursed under his breath. He just hoped that the others could fight off the monsuno and that Jinja wouldn't catch up with the not-Drezz in the base. Who knows what _he_ was really after.

Chase slowed down. Why was there imposter here? If it was for the monsuno, then he were tricked along with the rest of them. But then why go through the whole act of being Drezz? Especially if they could shape shift like the Hand's monsuno...

" _… Chase."_

He held a breath. It was _her_ again.

Turning to one of the other halls, he was quick enough to see the flutter of a white dress go by, and took off down the hall without thinking. The Punk Monks said something, but didn't bother following him. They were trying to leave after all. The wild core bomb was going to go off soon, which could only mean there wasn't much time left. When he was a good distance away he stopped.

"Mom?" Chase asked. He took a step and paused. 

What if it _wasn't_ her? What if this was a trap?

"… Is that really you?" he asked again more quietly. He waited a moment before he got a response.

" _Chase,"_ Sophia’s voice echoed throughout the hall, " _you have to leave. You have to get out."_

 _"_ Why? What's going on?" he asked, not knowing where to look.

" _You must go North,"_ she said, " _You must go to the North. Please. I am there."_

He stood, listening to her words, knowing that he was just being led along. Just like all the other times. Whether it was really her or the Hand of Destiny.

And that set him off.

He was done with this cryptic nonsense and being dangled about.

"Why are you leading me all over the place!" he shouted throughout the hall, "You tell me to go North, and then to find the monsuno, and now you're just leading me into circles! What do you want?!"

“ _Please. Chase. You have to come to me.”_

Her voice continued to echo throughout the hall, creating a barrage of noise that seemed to come down on him. He banged his fists against the metal wall in frustration, and slid down to his knees. The light in the hall flickered off, the flood lights being the only source now. He sat against the wall, ignoring how cold the metal was.

"Why can't you just _tell me_ ," he said pitifully, his head hanging down. It always felt like this. Even when it was with tracking his father almost a year ago, the answers were right in front of him, but just out of reach.

Why did it have to be this way? Why was it _his_ parent's that had to be involved with monsuno? Nothing good ever seemed to come out of it. Not with S.T.O.R.M., Klipse, and Dr. Tallis all using monsuno for their own reasons.

He let out a defeated sigh, and held his knees to his chest. How much of his life would have been different if his father hadn't discovered monsuno? Would he be at home with his parents? Worrying about things that average people worry about. He closed his eyes, hardly caring if a soldier should happen to stumble upon him.

He felt something, and took Lock's core into his hand. There was a warm, comforting feeling inside. Even the blue light seemed to have a certain warmth when he looked down at it. He let his fingers graze against the metal fastenings, before holding it a bit closer with both hands.

"I guess there's one good thing that came out of it," he said, smiling a bit when he felt Lock stir in the core, "At least I got you. Right buddy?"

It was only a small comfort, but the fact that his father trusted him with Lock was worth at least something. And they would never be separated. Sophia’s voice suddenly faded, turning into nothing more than a murmur. Chase looked up.

“... Mom?”

There was a thud, and Chase jumped. Slowly, he got back up to his feet, cautiously looking up and down the halls. Now that he thought about it, where was the rest of S.T.O.R.M.? Did they all split as soon as the alarm went off? He leaned over to look into another hall from where the sound came from. He could hear someone saying something quietly, and then giggling. Before he knew it, footsteps started to lead away.

He wasn't sure what it was, but something told him to stay away from that direction. He probably should backtrack and find an exit.

Chase felt something stir on his core holster, and noticed that Jinja's monsuno were getting antsy. He clipped Lock back onto his belt and took Charger into his hand, waiting for some sort of response.

"… Is there something wrong?" he asked. The monsuno only continued to buzz around in its core. Chase gave a sigh, then perked up in realization. Sitting back down with his legs crossed, he held Charger's core in his palm. He still wasn't sure how this whole monsuno sight thing worked, but surely there was a way to use Jinja and her monsuno's connection to track her down.

He waited for some sort of sign, before feeling a jerk towards the hall the voice came from. It caught him off guard, and made him fall.

"That was… weird," he said to himself, then shook his head. He put Charger's core back onto Jinja's belt, and hurried down the halls.

Chase was apprehensive as he edged towards the hall that the noise and voice came from. He couldn't help but hesitate, realizing that he could be following _her_ voice, which now seemed more haunting than reassuring. When Chase paused to think about it, Sophia’s voice had been getting more rigid the past few times they had spoken.

'Was she always like that?' he thought, then bit his lip before he turned around the corner. He didn't have many memories of his mother to start with, and that just made him even more conflicted. If he ever did see her again in person, would they be able to be a family again along with his father…?

That last thought was lost when he looked around the corner to see the red-haired figure half-slumped against the wall.

"Jinja!" he exclaimed, not caring if any guards were around. He sprinted over, getting to his knees beside her.

"Jinja? Hey, wake up," he said, shaking her shoulder. She didn't respond, and when he leaned forward he let out a gasp. There were red marks on her throat that were starting to bruise, as if someone strangled her. Panic arose, and he laid her on the ground and put an ear to her chest. Slowly, he calmed himself down enough to hear her heartbeat and feel her chest slowly rise and fall. He let out a sigh of relief and sat back up.

'Was this why Charger was antsy earlier?' 

There was no way a guard did this and just left her in the hall, and he doubted that she had run into the Punk Monks. They were much more preoccupied with the wild core bomb-

"Ah the bomb!" Chase exclaimed and got to his feet. How long had it been since he split from Drezz and the rest of them? Five, maybe ten minutes? More than that? There was probably a little under twenty minutes left of time before the bomb would go off. He got back low and hoisted Jinja into an upright position. She let out a moan, arms slumping over his shoulders as her head was perched next to his. He got up with a huff, gripping onto her legs as she slumped against his back. He didn't have time to wait for her to regain consciousness, and started dashing down the hall.

There was nothing holding them back now. There was no monsuno to find, they recovered their cores from the base, and it seemed that all the soldiers had already evacuated. Now he just had to figure out where that cave to the north was and then he could eventually meet up with the others. He hoped that Jinja wouldn't be out cold for too much longer, though it did disturb him that there was someone in the base that would just strangle someone only to leave them.

He didn't get very far down the hall before he realized that he had no idea which way he was going.

Chase came to a halt at an intersection and clicked his tongue in frustration. He couldn't figure out which hall to go down, whether to turn around, or to go into a door and hope for the best. He needed a sign...

There was a loud explosion ahead, and at first he thought the bomb had gone off. When he realized that the two of them were still alive, he figured it must have been a monsuno battle.

"If monsuno are fighting, that could mean a way out," he said aloud, mostly to himself. He started to go forward again, and then saw that there was a large door that probably led to an aircraft hanger. A way out!

He opened the door by kicking at the panel to the side, watching as it slid open. Sure enough, he found himself in a wide open space where large airships were stored.

But what surprised him was the Commandant Marshall Charlemange standing there with Dax and One-Eyed Jack on the ground.


	10. Chapter 10

It didn't take long for Bren and the Desert Wolves to get even more lost in the halls. The lights kept going on and off, disorientating them all. Bren finally made the decision to try and find an emergency door by following the red flood lights on the ground. He noticed as they were walking along how only some of the lights were normal, which could only mean this was a way to show an exit.

Sure enough, they were led to a stairwell. Weirdly it didn’t go below the third floor, which could only mean the best option would be to go up and out. They trailed up to the top, and slid inside to the next hall. Windows were lined along the ceiling every few feet. Bren tried to reach but failed.

"You think you could reach up there?" Bren asked Pozzo. The man was currently carrying Beyal along, who was still knocked out. Pozzo nodded, and set the monk down before hefting the metal mallet from his back.

"Shield your eyes," he said, then thrusted the weapon upward, shattering the glass everywhere. There was a flurry of wind that came in, and when Bren looked up, he saw that the clouds were now darkened overhead.

Before he knew it, Bren was suddenly lifted up by his waist out of the hall and onto the roof. He let out a squeak when he fell forward on the metal, and glanced around quickly, a bit embarrassed. Surprisingly, the roof was nothing but a flat metal surface that curved at the edges (they would have to be careful when going towards them). He could see a few S.T.O.R.M. ships taking off from the base. Why were they evacuating anyway? Did Dax defeat Charlemagne or something? Or maybe it was Chase or Jinja?

Turning around, Bren saw Bekka looking around with him, taking heed to the storm that was overhead. When Bren glanced around, he noticed that it was starting to sprinkle. No doubt the rain would start pouring soon.

"Could you lend a hand?"

He turned around to see the mute woman holding onto Beyal's arms as she and Pozzo tried hauling him up. Bren let out a 'ah' before going over and helping. Beyal let out a groan, but otherwise didn't move. The two of them dragged him a few feet from the window before settling down. It was then that Bren noticed Beyal's cheeks getting flushed again. His fever was probably back.

"I kind of hope that monsuno or whatever isn't lying," Bren said. It was bad enough with Beyal passing out every few hours. And from the look of things, it was going to get worse.

Bren looked down at the Core Tablet, seeing that there was a drastic change with the air pressure and humidity. It wouldn't be ideal traveling weather, but they didn’t have much of a choice. Pozzo joined them, taking heed to the worried look that Bekka was giving. The wind suddenly started to pick up, and thunder started to roll overhead.

"We should get out of here before the storm really starts to pick up," Bekka said, still clinging onto Beyal. Bren nodded, stood, and took out Neo-Quickforce's core. 

Before he threw it, there was a rumbling from below that shook the whole base. Bren let out a shout when he ended up falling over. After a few seconds, it stopped.

"Wh-what was that?" he said out loud. He didn't get an answer from the Desert Wolves. Instead, a familiar voice came from the hole in the roof they came from.

"Everyone!"

They turned to the window, and after a moment, Jinja popped out.

"Jinja, what are you doing here?" Bren asked as she hopped up, "And what are you wearing?"

For some reason, she was wearing one of the S.T.O.R.M. uniforms instead of her usual clothes (unless her clothes were under the armor…? But Bren didn't want to think too much about that.)

"That's not important right now," she dismissed, "We have to get out of here! The place is going to blow!"

"Wait. What?!" Bren squeaked.

"The Punk Monks showed up. They planted a bomb somewhere in the base and are planning on taking the whole thing out."

"That would explain why all the soldiers are taking off," Bekka said, looking off towards the ships that were leaving, "And that rumbling."

"C'mon," Jinja said, grabbing Bren's wrist and hauling him up, "we have to get our monsuno out and go up North."

"Wait! Where's Chase? And Dax? I thought you went back in to find them. And how did you even find us so fast?" Bren said. Strangely, Jinja didn't respond, nor did she look at him. It was only when they heard a groan did the two turn around. Beyal was suddenly awake, though it looked like he would faint again at any second. He tried sitting up, very dazed and confused.

"Beyal? How are you feeling?" Bekka asked worryingly. The monk didn't give a response, and looked around. His eyes finally settled on Bren and Jinja.

"Bren?… Jinja?" He said, voice faint. His eyes lingered on Jinja a bit longer for some reason, "… But… You're not- AH!"

Beyal clinched his head in pain, curling up on the ground as Bekka hovered over him.

"What is it?" she asked. Her eyes were filled with worry and panic. But before anyone could help, Bren felt something prick at his neck.

"Not so fast!" He turned to see Jinja, who took a hold of one of his arms and held it painfully behind his back. Her other hand held the knife that was precariously close to his neck. "Don't move."

Bren felt a chill run down his spine as metal pressed against his throat. He fought the urge to swallow as he half turned to Jinja. Her face was surprisingly blank, as were her eyes that stared straight at the Desert Wolves.

"Uh… Jinja…? What are you-"

"Be quiet," she snapped, gripping onto his arm harshly and pressing the blade more into his neck. He closed his mouth with an audible 'click'.

"… Better. Now," she took a step forward, "hand over the white-haired boy and I won't have to carve open his throat."

Bren was frozen with both fear and surprise. What happened to Jinja? Did she get hit on the head too hard or something?

"… Well?" she said, tightening her hold on his arm. When he looked forward, Bren could feel panic rising. Pozzo had a blank look on his face, not affected by the scene at all. Bekka was keeping a firm grip on Beyal's shoulders, who was still cringing in pain on the ground and oblivious to what was going on.

A shrill cry came from above. For a brief moment, Bren thought that it was the wind starting to pick up again. His stomach dropped when he saw the owl monsuno from yesterday approaching quickly in the distance. Pozzo also saw, and took a hold of a core. Bekka, on the other hand, was staring down Jinja with an intense glower. Jinja let out a laugh under her breath.

"You obviously don't think I'm serious," she said, a feral grin twisting her lips. The blade pressed harder onto Bren's throat, and he stiffened as he felt it finally pierce his skin. He shut his eyes tightly, wincing at the pain.

"… Wait."

It stopped, though Bren was holding his breath in anticipation. When nothing happened, he peeked and saw Beyal struggling to get to his knees. The monk looked up with a worried look before turning to Bekka. They didn't say anything, and she looked away sullenly.

"That's more I like it," Jinja said. Suddenly, Bren felt himself pushed forward toward the mute woman, who was just as surprised when they both toppled over. Wasting no time, Jinja charged at Beyal with the knife. 

Before she could strike, Pozzo had stepped forward, grabbing her hand. Jinja growled under her breath, and Bekka was back on her feet running to them. Soon, Jinja and the Desert Wolves were swinging and dodging at each other, slowly edging away from the two teens. When Bren sat up, a shadow flashed across the roof. The owl monsuno was above them all.

"Oh crag."

All movements were ceased when the monsuno let out a shriek down at them. Bren gripped his ears in pain, the noise somehow even more powerful than last time. He tried to look up to see who was winning, and felt rain starting to fall down on them. 

The roof they were on suddenly shook, and Bren saw the owl monsuno only a few feet away. Its snake-like eyes glazed over them all as its head twitched. For some reason, it looked even more grotesque than the last time they had seen it, more feathers falling out and being replaced by crystal scales.

There was a shout, and Bren turned to see Jinja had thrown Bekka far off towards the edge of the roof. Jinja ran after her, blade still drawn. She didn't get far before Pozzo was swinging the mallet at her. From the corner of his eye, Bren saw the monsuno look at him, eyes turning into narrow slits.

"Oh no," he said, then bolted over to Beyal as the monsuno surged after him. He slid to his knees next to the monk, "C'mon Beyal! Let's go! That thing is going to-"

He looked up to see the monsuno open its jaw as it lunged forward, and he let out a cry as he clenched his eyes shut.

~*~*~*~

“Hmph. Pathetic.”

Dax coughed at the dust in the air. His monsuno had been called back to their cores, and he was left crouched down as Charlemagne strutted over. She walked right past Jack, who was struggling to get back up after being thrown aside by a blast.

“G-Get back here,” the one-eyed man grunted, “You. You took my gift! You-”

Charlemagne ignored him, eyes set on Dax. She paused, Driftblade growling behind her. 

“Pathetic. Although I wasn’t expecting you to win even with zat sorry excuse for a soldier,” she scoffed, “Now tell me lowlander. Where are the rest of your friends? And Jeredy Suno.”

Dax frowned at her. “Save it. Like I’m gonna tell you. Even if you did ask nicely.”

The woman glared at him.

The doors behind Dax opened. Charlemagne raised a brow, making him turn around. He shouldn’t have been surprised that Chase showed up, but he was. Dax’s eyes widened at seeing Jinja slung over Chase’s shoulders.

“Well well. Looks like you managed to get out,” Charlemagne huffed, “I’ll have to make sure Trey is punished for it.” 

Chase clicked his tongue before slipping Jinja off his shoulders. He took a hold of Lock’s core. “Yeah. Well, I’ll be sure to punish you and your monsuno thoroughly around this hanger! Lock!”

He spun the core out against Drifblade. Lock appeared with a roar. Charlemagne frowned, she turned on her heel, Driftblade leaping in front of her.

“Driftblade, Machete Melee!”

Driftblade’s wing started to glow. Chase’s grip on the core tightened. It started to glow brighter.

“Lock, Emerald Diamond Rain!”

A crystal formed above Lock. Energy crackled all around it. Driftblade roared as blasts shot out from its bladed wings. Lock roared as the emerald diamond shot forward. It went through Driftblade’s attack into the monsuno. Driftblade was thrown back. Charlemange gasped as it slammed into her and dragged her across the room. 

Not wanting to wait, Chase ran to Dax and helped him up. “C’mon. We gotta get out of here! Think you can walk?”

“Didn’t think you’d be wanting to run from a fight with Charlemagne, “Dax scoffed with a grin. Chase looked up and saw Jack finally rising, leaning heavily on his metal leg.

“I don’t. But the Punk Monks have us on a time limit,” Chase explained,“They put a wild core bomb in here. There wasn’t a monsuno here-”

“Yeah. Charlemagne set us up,” Dax sighed. Lock ran to the hangar door. The monsuno stood on his hind legs and ripped the door off. It was starting to rain.

“Good job buddy,” Chase said as Lock ran back to them.

“Wait,” Dax said, “We can’t leave yet. Bren and Beyal went inside with Jinja and-”

His eyes wandered over and saw the girl laying on the floor. He looked back and forth between her and Chase.

Chase, on the other hand, was focused more on what Dax had just said. Normally he would’ve been happy that they all had managed to get to one place. But with the knowledge that someone or something from the Hand of Destiny was now running freely in the base made Chase panic. If Jinja had been with them, then they shouldn’t have been that far.

“Dax,” Chase said with a slow breath, “I need you to take Jinja with you and escape.”

“Wha-”

“Just wait for us outside the base somewhere close,” Chase said, “You could use a rest, and Jinja is in no position to fight.”

He gripped onto Jinja’s cores. He held them out to Dax.

“Please. I’ll be sure to find Bren and Beyal. I promise.”

Dax stared. Despite what he had said yesterday, Chase was more focused. There was no doubt in his eyes. In the end, Dax let out a sigh before taking the cores. 

“Alright,” he said, “But you better come out of here alive. Bioblaze, launch!”

Bioblaze appeared with a shrill squeak. It landed next to them as Chase and Dax propped Jinja on its back.

“There’s an outpost town that’s east from here. Head in that direction and we’ll meet up,” Dax said as he hopped on. Chase nodded. He turned to One-Eyed Jack.

“So what are you doing here? And where are your Desert Wolves?”

Jack tried to move his arms in an exaggerated fashion, though his metal arm refused to cooperate.

“My Desert Wolves came ahead of me. Despite me losing my gift, I had been granted an opportunity from Master Ey,” Jack said, “Bekka wished to come here to protect Master Ey’s pupil. And I wished to help the monsuno and get my gift back!”

Chase and Dax just frowned at him, unsure of what to make of his story. Dax shook his head.

“The Desert Wolves were with us when we got separated. They have to be together with Bren and Beyal,” he said. Chase nodded.

There was a creak on the other side of the room. Driftblade got up and roared. Charlemagne stepped back up, limping slightly.

“Don’t think I’m letting you all go free!” she snapped, “Driftblade!”

“Lock!”

Driftblade ran forward at them. Lock tackled it from the side.

“Go Dax! Now!”

“Let’s go Bioblaze!” Dax shouted. The monsuno took off. It soared overhead as it went through the hangar door. In the distance Dax could see some of the cloud hoppers that had most likely evacuated when the alarm went off. He looked forward, focusing on keeping Jinja on top of Bioblaze as the thunder loomed overhead.

~*~*~*~

Bren was surprised he didn't feel any pain. And then realized that he was still somehow alive. Slowly, he eased his eyes open and let out a gasp.

Beyal stood above him, somehow keeping the monsuno's beak from shutting on the two of them. Bren sat, frozen by fear and amazement. Beyal was struggling, and grit his teeth as the monsuno pushed forward, its sharpened beak tearing into his palms.

"… _Get down!"_ He grunted. Bren was snapped out of his daze, and dropped flat on the ground. There was the sound of an impact, and the monsuno fell far backwards. Bren let out a sigh, then saw Beyal fall to one knee.

"You alright?" Bren asked as he crawled over to the monk, noting how blood was running down his hands. Beyal's cheeks were still flushed, and it was hard to tell if there was sweat pouring down his face in the rain. He glanced over to Bren with half-lidded eyes, green fading in and out of his normally gray gaze.

" _… Bren,_ " he muttered, and Bren knew that he was talking to the monsuno, " _That girl is not your friend."_

Bren gave a concerned look, "Then… Who is she?"

There was a shout, and they both turned around to see both Bekka and Pozzo struggling against ‘Jinja’. They were all disarmed, and were now throwing punches and kicks. Bren heard the monsuno shifting, and turned around.

Slowly, he stood up against the wind, and took out a core. He faced the monsuno as it slumped its body upward, eyeing them again as its head twisted.

"Neo-Quickforce, laun-"

The whole roof shook again, knocking him off his feet. There was an explosion towards the back of the base, and two orange monsuno flew out and away into the desert. The owl monsuno saw the flash of orange, and flew after them instead.

“I guess the Punk Monks really were here,” Bren said out loud, a bit grateful that the rogue monsuno flew away. He shook his head.

Another shout of pain was heard. Bekka was now cradling her shoulder, the blade sticking out of it. Giving her no time to recover, ‘Jinja’ bolted over with a dark smirk. She dodged Pozzo, and kicked Bekka far off to the side so that she was now sliding off the roof, ripping the blade out as she did.

"Bekka!" Pozzo shouted. He dashed forward and grabbed her arm, and managed to grip onto the metal surface before they could fall off any more. ‘Jinja’ smirked, and turned back to the other two. Bren started to panic, and heard the monsuno coming back. Taking a steady breath, Bren took Neo-Quickforce's core in his hand again.

"Oh don't bother," ‘Jinja’ said. She charged forward at lightning speed with the knife. Beyal suddenly stood in front of Bren, knocking the blade out of the red-haired girl's hand. She grunted, and the two of them started to jab at each other. Their hits were swift, but not quite hitting a critical blow. Beyal -or rather the monsuno - was struggling to stay swift on his feet. Somehow, the monk managed to knock the red-haired girl down, and didn't hesitate to restrain her, straddling her waist and gripping around her throat.

" _How dare you..."_ he growled out. She whimpered, which to Bren sounded strange for her to make such a noise. The monsuno was unfazed by that, and raised a fist.

"Beyal please!" ‘Jinja’ cried, voice now ringing with pain and fear. Beyal gasped, and Bren saw that he was back in control. Beyal eased off of her quickly, unsure of what happened. She sat up as well, panting a bit.

"Jinja? Are you-"

‘Jinja’ suddenly lunged forward, striking Beyal in the jaw. Bren ran forward instinctively to kneel next to the monk. ‘Jinja’ stood up ,taking a step back with a harsh cough. Bren glared at her.

"So who are you?" Bren asked, trying not to let his gaze waver. ‘Jinja’ looked at him with a passive and unreadable look. She reached into her belt and threw something at the two of them. It burst into a metal net. Bren let out a short cry, not having time to react as it caught him and Beyal. While Bren knew that he was on the scrawny side, the net felt unnaturally heavy, making him crouch even lower. How’d she manage to get a hold of such a thing?

"It's pitiful to know that the Hand of Destiny has trouble with your group," ‘Jinja’ said, stalking over to the two. She tossed something else up and down. Bren saw that it was some sort of white core.

"Wh-what do you want?" He asked, starting to shiver as the rain soaked through his clothes and started to puddle around them. The storm was starting to pick up even more, the wind whipping and whistling about. ‘Jinja’ ignored Bren’s question and looked off to the distance. The desert wolves were still struggling to get back up, and the owl monsuno was getting closer.

"Well, I suppose it's about time we head out," ‘Jinja’ said, then looked over to Bren with a cold stare, "I ought to dispose of you, seeing that you're nothing but trouble-" Bren saw the owl monsuno land and stalk over with narrow eyes centered on them, and gulped nervously "-but you’re not worth the effort-"

"W-wait!" Bren said, "W-who are you really?"

An explosion on the farther side of the roof erupted. A red monsuno appeared from the smoke. ‘Jinja’ stood dumbly for a moment as the beast turned towards them, a familiar one-eyed man standing on its back in triumph.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is where the actual scissors get broken out. We don’t got time to diddle for 10 more chapters we gotta wrap this up I want yugiohs back.

Charlemagne stared at Jeredy’s brat, who stood defiantly in front of her. The core in his hand was bright, as was the eyes of his monsuno. She held up Driftblade’s core.

“Take it down now!”

Driftblade roared as it surged towards Lock. Even though she knew that it was still exhausted from the previous fight, she couldn’t lose to someone like Jeredy’s son! This was where she would finally take care of them all once and for all!

Lock growled as the two rammed against one another. Driftblade clawed at the other's face. Lock recoiled before going for a tackle. Driftblade's wings lit up. Footsteps came from behind Charlemagne.

“Commandant!” It was Trey, though she didn't look away from the fight. “There's a wild core bomb here in the base! We’ve evacuated everyone!”

“Why did you come tell me this? Can’t you see I’m in the middle of something!” Charlemagne shouted. When she turned slightly towards him, Trey visibly winced.

“Ma’am. You’re the only one left-”

"And I'm busy! Strike bolt!"

Before Driftblade could attack, Lock jumped up and slammed down into it. The time on the core ticked down to its last bars.

Charlemagne growled between her clenched teeth. Of course she would be forced to retreat. She could see Jeredy’s son with a smug look in his eyes. No doubt he’d call this a victory by default.

“... Fine!” she said to Trey, then turned to Driftblade, “Take out the roof!”

Driftblade aimed upward. A blast shot out from its jowls as it hit the metal. The roof lurched once before collapsing. Driftblade leapt back as Charlemagne held out her core. She didn’t bother to see if Chase or Jack made it out, instead looking out to the desert. There was a single cloud hopper near them.

As soon as they were on, it took off.

“Don’t worry ma’am. We managed to transfer all the data from the base and all monsuno essence,” Trey reported, “I’m sure that-”

Charlemagne held up a hand, clearly not wanting to listen. Instead, her eyes stayed on the fading base. Wild core bomb, huh? She scoffed. No doubt it was Tallis, mad that he was used. What a fool.

She folded her hands against her knee. Oh well. She got what she came here for. And if luck were on her side, Jeredy’s brat and his friends wouldn’t be a bother to her any longer.

~*~*~*~

His head was spinning. Or the world was spinning, it was hard to tell with his eyes closed. People were shouting and monsuno were roaring. When Jinja struck him, he stayed still as a headache suddenly spiked, followed by an immense pressure against his body. He let out a groan as he tried sitting up, only to fail with the object on top weighing him down. When he grasped it, he realized it was a metal net.

"Beyal?"

He looked to see Bren extremely close, also trapped inside. Beyal blinked a few times, and then saw the gash that was running along the brown-haired teen's neck, "Finally awake?”

The monk couldn't answer, or found himself unable to at the moment. His throat hurt, his hands hurt, almost everything hurt. He could also hear the voice from before urging him to get up, but ignored it.

Shouting caught both of their attention, and they saw One-Eyed Jack on Freedomstriker charging at ‘Jinja.’ She started to run to the side, whistling. The owl monsuno swooped down and crashed into Freedomstriker. 

“C’mon c’mon!” Bren said, gritting his teeth. He was tapping on the core tablet furiously, “Don’t worry. This thing is magnetized. But if I could just-”

The owl monsuno shrieked out before suddenly swerving away from Freedomstriker and instead going after the two Desert Wolves struggling to climb back up.

"Bekka!" Beyal shouted. Before the monsuno could reach them, Freedomstriker shot a blast, steering the owl monsuno away. Jack quickly ran to help his comrades get up.

"Got it!" Bren exclaimed, and the weight from the net eased immensely. Bren quickly cast it off the two of them, glancing around. ‘Jinja’ immediately saw the two of them and looked up to the sky with a furious look.

"Stop them!" She exclaimed. The owl monsuno screeched, setting its eyes on Bren and Beyal. The monsuno flew at them at lightning speed. Bren let out a yelp before grabbing Beyal's wrist and yanking him to his feet. They didn't get far before the monsuno let out a flurry of wind across the whole roof, knocking them off their feet.

Suddenly, the base shook violently, and everyone was stunned for a moment. The first one to notice what was happening was Jack, who let out an audible gasp, even amongst the rain fall.

"The wild core bomb is going off!" He exclaimed. Bren let out a gasp as he stood.

"We still have to find the others!" he said. ‘Jinja’ turned to him and Beyal with a snarl before looking at the rogue monsuno.

"Get them!" she shouted. It surged forward. Bren and Beyal took a hold of their cores.

"Mysticblade."

"Neo-Quickforce!"

"Launch!"

The two cores collided, and the two blue monsuno immediately clashed into the owl monsuno. Beyal gave a glance to Bren, who was watching the battle with a worried look. Beyal looked down, trying to think through the situation. If the monsuno and the Jinja impostor in front of them could be distracted for a few minutes, then they could go after Chase and the real Jinja and meet up with Dax before the bomb goes off, which was probably less than five minutes. It was then that Beyal noticed that the red-haired girl was staring at him intently, as if waiting for the opportunity to pounce.

He took a breath, then ran to the edge of the roof.

"W-wait!" Bren shouted, "Beyal what're you-"

"Bren find the others! Mysticblade, this way!" the monk shouted as loudly as he could. It took all his strength to stand, and even more to run as fast as he did. His monsuno immediately responded, twisting itself around the others and making its way towards him. He didn't need to give it instructions as he leapt off the edge and onto its back.

Beyal glanced back and saw ‘Jinja’ and the owl monsuno pursuing. He looked past them and saw Bren running over to Jack and the Desert Wolves, and took a breath. He wanted to relax as he held onto his monsuno, but knew he couldn't with the owl monsuno nearing him, ‘Jinja’ on its back.

Mysticblade picked up speed. The voice from the monsuno kept trying to speak to him in his mind, but ignored it. As far as Beyal could tell, that fake Jinja was after the monsuno inside him, and that just meant he had to get her and the rogue monsuno away from everyone else so they could escape. He turned around, intending to command an attack, but stopped when he couldn't see the white monsuno.

"Where…" he muttered. Suddenly there was a shift in the air. Despite the storm around them, something was wrong. There was crackling that was quickly followed by a deafening explosion, and the base suddenly became engulfed in flames. The wild core bomb had been set off.

The shockwave made the monsuno flinch, and from the corner of his vision, Beyal could see that Bren and the Desert Wolves had all made it off the roof and were frantically trying to get away from the increasing cloud of fire. But that wasn't what he was focused on. 

"CHASE! JINJA! DAX!"

The teen's ears started to ring, but he couldn't tell if it was from the explosion or the shock. Beyal's heart was beating faster, trying to see if any of the other's made it out. Mysticblade sensed his controller's distress, and came to a stop. The base was engulfed in a burst of red and orange, expanding as to show no sign of anything from before. He finally snapped out of his daze when he saw Bren, still flying away from the edges of the flames, heading towards him with a panicked look. After a few seconds, Beyal realized that it wasn't for himself.

"Gotcha!"

Mysticblade was slammed from above, nearly knocking Beyal off. There was laughter, and he looked up to see the fake red-haired girl looking down at him with a smug look. Beyal glared back as the owl monsuno brought them down at a blinding speed.

"Mysticblade, sky nova!"

The monsuno writhed and twisted before its wings lit up. A blast shot that barely hit the owl monsuno's wing. It screeched and finally released the other. As quickly as it let go, the owl monsuno suddenly circled back and launched a blast of its own.

It hit straight on, Mysticblade disappearing. Beyal was left free falling, screaming as his monsuno was called back to its core too quickly. He shut his eyes, not knowing whether he would hit the ground first or get caught by Bren. His fall was short lived as he dropped on top of another flying monsuno.

At first he was relieved, thinking it really was Bren, but quickly looked up to see the fake Jinja laughing darkly as she stood toward the opposite side of the monsuno they were on. She started to stalk over to him, and Beyal panicked, trying to find a way to escape other than jumping off. She saw this, and laughed even more.

"Game over monsuno," she said, green eyes blazing. A white core was tossed up and down in her hand. Beyal gulped nervously as she stopped a foot away, looking down with a sinister smile.

"W-What do you want?" he asked nervously, trying to buy time. She didn't respond immediately, rather stared at him intensely for a moment. She finally spoke when she reached for something on the S.T.O.R.M. belt she wore.

"I'm guessing you either have some idea or none at all about the monsuno inside you," she said, eyes darkening as she frowned, "Me and my comrades need it. We'll just expel it from you, and then you're free to do whatever."

Beyal raised a brow, "It's not that simple though. Is it?"

The fake Jinja looked down, chuckling again, "Of course not."

Her eyes blazed green again as she looked up with a crazed look, "We've got to _rip_ it from _your soul. And afterwards we're going after Suno!"_

~*~*~*~

When the roof started to collapse, Lock grabbed Chase and leapt into the hallway. He coughed at the dust that was kicked up. Looking over his shoulder, Chase could see Jack had called out Freedomstriker. The sight was obscured as the roofing came over the hall entrance. Chase sighed, then looked up to Lock.

“Thanks bud,” he said, patting Lock’s paw that held him. As soon as he stepped away, a pain went between his ears.

“ _Chase!”_ Sophia cried, “ _Chase you must help me!”_

“Ah. W-Mom?” Chase winced. The pain dulled and her voice was quiet. Lock hovered over him in concern.

“It’s okay. Don’t worry,” Chase reassured. He looked down at his core. Something was wrong, but what? Before he could question it, a flash went through his vision. 

He already knew what it was just as it happened. It was the monsuno sight. 

He could see Bren and Beyal on the roof outside. Just as the bomb went off. Chase shook his head quickly. They needed to get out of here!

“Quick. Lock. Can you dig us out?” Chase asked as he pointed at where the hangar entrance was. Lock growled and hunched low as it turned. Light flashed as Lock opened his jaw. The debris was blasted away, though the base creaked more as the rest of the wall caved in. Chase took a hold of Evo.

“Lock, return!" Lock disappeared, though he seemed to refuse for a split second. "Evo, launch! ”

As soon as his monsuno appeared, Chase leapt onto Evo’s back. It fluffed its wings before soaring up through a hole in the ceiling that was no doubt made by One-Eyed Jack. As soon as they got out, however, Sophia’s voice started again.

“ _Chase keep going,”_ she said, “ _You have to keep going.”_

“Wh-what are you saying,” he said out loud, unsure if she could hear him.

“ _If you wait too long you won’t be able to find me,”_ she said, “ _You must...”_

Now distracted, Chase turned to every direction. Far into the sky, he and Evo were surrounded by storm clouds. The rain was heavily pouring down in a way he hadn’t seen before. Yet he could still hear her so clearly.

“ _Now Chase! They’ll be back soon!”_

Chase held onto his ears. He wanted to save her. He really did. But there was something off about her every time she spoke. He couldn’t just… 

He couldn’t just leave everyone. Chase reached down and held Lock’s core. His connection to the monsuno seemed to calm her voice. There had to be a reason. 

"Please," Chase muttered, "I'll come for you... But I need to help everyone else first."

She didn't say anything. Chase shuddered against the cold wind. In the distance below him, Chase could see Mysticblade struggling against the owl monsuno from before. Something stirred Lock as they watched. That's all it took for Chase to know they needed to hurry.

“Evo, c’mon!” Chase said. Evo flew down towards the fight. As they got closer, Chase could make out-

“Jinja?!” Chase said in surprise. It couldn’t be, but it looked like her! That was when Chase noticed the S.T.O.R.M. uniform. Suddenly it became clear why Lock had reacted. 

Mysticblade was called back as it was hit. The owl monsuno turned and caught Beyal just as he started to fall. Chase’s grip on both cores tightened. In response, Evo picked up speed against the cold wind.

As they got closer, ‘Jinja’s voice became clear.

"- _And afterwards we're going after Suno!"_

Chase clutched onto Lock’s core as he shouted. "Then I'll make it easy for you!"

The two looked up to the new voice, and immediately recognized who it came from as Evo dived down towards them.

"Cause I'm right here!" Chase exclaimed, “Evo! Lightning Bash!”

Evo swooped forward. The owl monsuno jerked back to avoid the attack. The imposter clung to its back while Beyal slid off with a surprised shout. The owl monsuno locked onto Evo as it swerved in the air.

“Evo! Barrel roll!” Chase shouted as he jumped off. Evo dodged away from the owl monsuno as its claws lit up. Chase reached out with both hands, crashing into Beyal. He kept his arms wrapped around the other’s shoulders as he turned back. Evo managed to dodge the owl monsuno, roll through the air, and caught the two. Chase felt the wind knocked out of him when they landed, Beyal on top. 

Beyal rose up slightly with a look of concern. Chase flashed him a smile before laughing came from above. The owl monsuno was coming at them again.

“Leaving so soon Chase?” Jinja’s voice exclaimed. The two quickly sat up. Chase looked up with contempt, knowing that it wasn’t really her. But when he looked into her now flashing green eyes, the pain in his mind came back.

Chase gasped, clutching his head.

“Chase-what’s wrong?” 

“ _Chase.”_ Sophia said, making his ears ring, “ _Chase you have to follow them. They will take you to me!”_

Chase gasped. What? What did she mean? He couldn’t ask, the pain making his sight blurry. He gasped as he hunched down more. Beyal’s voice was drowning away against her’s.

“Chase? Chase!”

“ _Go Chase. You have to go!”_

“You two are mine now!”

Chase tried to keep a hold of Evo’s core, but his voice was lost. Even as he saw the owl monsuno soaring at them he couldn’t find the words to command.

A hand gripped onto his that was holding Evo’s core. For a brief moment, there were flashes of something in his vision. The pain dulled before he could make them all out. He blearily looked over and saw Beyal staring up at the other monsuno, his eyes alight.

Evo suddenly swerved as it shot a blast from its beak. ‘Jinja’ had a surprised look just as they dodged. “Ha! Nice try-”

A blast came from behind and hit the owl monsuno. It shrieked out. ‘Jinja’ cursed before looking back. Neo-Quickforce was shooting towards them, the desert wolves right behind. 

“Sorry not-Jinja!” Bren said, “Oh wait. No I’m not!”

“Cheap shot!” ‘Jinja’ shouted. Before the owl monsuno could retaliate, Stingapede lashed at it, chasing it away from chase and the other. ‘Jinja’ shouted some more, though Evo and Neo-Quickforce were quickly flying away. As they did, the ringing in his ears ceased enough for Chase to make out what the other two were saying.

“Bren we have to go back and help!” Beyal said.

“No way!" Bren squeaked out, "We can’t fight that thing back there even with the Desert Wolves!”

“Which is why we can’t leave them!” Beyal exclaimed, “Please Bren-”

Chase sat up with a groan. He looked back towards the monsuno fighting, the storm clouds now obscuring them into flashes of light.

“Bren’s right,” Chase panted out. “I don’t think we can take it on…”

Beyal frowned at him. He opened his mouth to say something, but suddenly turned away. He looked out, but was clearly distracted. The strange silence helped calm Chase's nerves as they continued to glide along. 

After a moment, Beyal's gaze dropped.

“... Alright.”

Chase’s shoulders sank a little in relief. In a normal situation he would’ve agreed that they needed to keep fighting. But there were a lot more abnormal things about their new foes. It would take more than a few extra monsuno to help. 

There was a shrill noise ahead. The three looked and saw Skyfall flying towards them. Chase sighed, waving in relief to see Jinja and Dax. Close by Chase could see a small town that was most likely abandoned. Chase's grip tightened on his cores. Especially Lock's. He turned around to Beyal.

"... I need answers," he said, staring directly into Beyal's eyes. The faintest green glow could be seen in them, "I need to know who that was. And why they were after you."

Beyal's eyes slid shut. Tension went through the other's body. When he looked to Chase, his eyes were bright green. Chase shivered, recalling the shapeshifter's words.

The monsuno blinked once, face void of any expression. " _What would you like to know?"_


	12. Chapter 12

The winds were picking up in the desert. In the distance the storm was approaching, obscuring the sun’s light. A mine shaft came into the view of two cloaked figures wandering closer.

“A whole day and we couldn’t find the monsuno,” the smaller figure sighed, “It must’ve died when it failed to form.”

“No. That’s not possible,” the larger said, “The others would’ve been destroyed with it. I’m sure it’s somewhere laying low. We’ll just have to wait for it to show itself.”

The smaller figure huffed as they approached the mine shaft. “That’s gonna take forever. Why can’t we just-”

“Hold on,” the larger said, grabbing the back of the other’s cloak and stopping. “... Someone else is here.”

“Really? Maybe it’s Ehna.”

“No… It’s someone more human.”

The wind howled through the cavern. Darkness stretched further inside. The smaller figure shrugged the other off before going inside. 

Their group had come down here the previous day after using the coordinates given to them by Petros. The Hand of Destiny couldn’t exactly use up any of their power at the moment for transportation. Below in the quarry pits was a small entrance that they had uncovered, leading into the ruins that they needed. Far within that was the monsuno essence.

Although part of the cavern had caved in, the actual opening for the monsuno essence was still intact.

“Tesserah!” the larger said out loud, “We’re back!” 

The smaller figure lifted something from their cloak over their head. “And we brought a bucket of meat!”

There was silence, faint dripping from the rain into the dark. The two walked further in. The pool of water that had been filled with monsuno essence remained still. 

“The monsuno hasn’t come back… Where’d she-”

There was a screech from outside. The two recognized it as the monsuno they captured the week prior. The smaller of the figures plopped onto a nearby rock, digging into the flimsy container. The larger folded their arms. “Why’d you even bother getting that. We don’t need eat.”

“Hey. We’re out in the world. Might as well try something before we're shoved back into the ground.”

The footsteps arrived in the current cavern they were in. Despite the S.T.O.R.M. uniform and altered face, they could tell who it was.

“Did you find the monsuno?”

“No,” the shapeshifter said before pausing, “Actually. I did. But things are a little complicated now.”

“You mean besides your ugly mug being stuck like that for now?” the smaller snickered. " How'd you even get stuck as a girl? I thought you were that Punk Monk guy when you left-"

The shapeshifter frowned, grabbing something from the belt. “Here Exi. Got you a present.”

They flicked out a metal canister that exploded into a metal net. The smaller figure yelped as they flopped over.

“Ah! My bucket of meat!”

The shapeshifter looked around the rest of the cavern. “Where’s Tesserah?”

“Who knows.” The larger shrugged. “She wasn’t here when we got back. Wouldn’t be surprised if she ran off with the two monsuno to go after Suno’s kid.”

“Nah. If she did we would’ve ran into each other,” the shapeshifter said, “Although… She might be having trouble with Suno... What is it? What's wrong?”

It grew quiet besides their third member struggling to get out of the metal net on the ground. The larger glanced back in the direction of the cavern entrance. “There’s someone else here… I can feel it. ”

“Go look around later. The monsuno will be heading this way and we can’t let it get away again,” the shapeshifter said, walking towards the water. Their third member finally rolled out of the net.

“What makes you so sure it’s coming?” They asked. 

“It’s with Suno. And if Tesserah is doing her job, then it will only be a matter of time before it shows up,” the shapeshifter said, “Go make yourself useful and keep watch outside. If anyone shows up come tell us.”

The smaller folded their arms together with a grumble before wandering back towards the entrance. When they left, the larger looked to the shapeshifter.

“You gonna change back?”

The shapeshifter glanced down into the water with a smirk. “Not yet. Since Suno’s group is heading this way. It might be useful to hold onto this face just a little longer.”

~*~*~*~

The group sat inside one of the more put together buildings, which seemed to be an old inn. The whole village had been abandoned, and mostly plundered with only a few things left to scavenge. Chase paced around the inn as the rain started to lighten outside, still processing what he was just told.

“Okay. So you’re a monsuno,” Chase said to Beyal. Or rather, the thing inside Beyal that was at the controls at the moment. “So uh. Why is it so important that the Hand of Destiny find you? Also who are they?”

“I _don’t know who they are. Just that they work with the Hand of Destiny,”_ the monsuno said, staring at Chase, “ _Though they mentioned something about a power source.”_

“You think they’re planning on trying something again like when you were transported away?” Bren asked Chase.

“They could be. The Hand’s already tried something twice now with us. And when they tried to abduct Kimi,” Chase said, putting his hand to his chin in thought. He looked to the monsuno again. “So do you know who was all there? Before we showed up.”

“ _Four. Almost humans.”_

 _“_ Almost? What in bleezers is that supposed to mean?” Dax asked as he leaned back the chair he was sitting on.

_“They’re human. But they’re also monsuno.”_

“I’d think that’s obvious with how one turned into me,” Jinja said with a frown.

“But that’s all there is to them?” Chase asked, “They’re just part monsuno right? Are they immortal like the Hand of Destiny?”

 _“I can't be sure._ _They also have the other three monsuno they captured. They don’t time out like yours.”_

Chase hummed. “Okay. That’s a set back. But not a total problem.”

Both Jinja and Dax stared at him with looks of ‘are you serious?’. Chase scratched his cheek.

“Oh oh,” Bren said, “I have a question. So uh. We just go back up to where the ruins are. I get that. But uh. What do we _do_ there?”

Beyal’s face scrunched into an annoyed look. He flopped back onto a bed, folding his hands on top of his chest. _“Just get me up there._ _And you better plan on leaving soon.”_

He didn’t move after that, probably going back to sleep from the way Beyal’s body relaxed. Bren made an annoyed sigh. “This is becoming a lot more trouble than we needed.”

“Doesn’t matter. We can’t just let the monsuno stick around in Beyal,” Jinja said, hands on her hips as she frowned at Bren.

“Sure we can. I’m sure he can handle it. Maybe.”

“Well. We do need a plan if we’re going up there,” Dax said, the chair creaking on its legs, “We can’t just walk right in. They could be expecting us.”

“Should we wait for them to leave? Maybe they’ll go on late dinner break?”

“Not everyone is like you Bren and thinks with their stomach-”

Chase ignored them, instead heading for the door. They all stopped when he reached it.

“Oh. Sorry,” he said, “Just going to get some air.”

He shut the door behind him with a sigh. Even with the empty entrance of the inn being spacious, he still felt confined. He kept going until he was out in the open air again. The sky was dotted with clouds, the storm moving along somewhat. Chase sighed again as he paced outside, his boots splashing in the puddles.

He didn’t even get a chance to ask the monsuno if it had seen his mother with the four. 

Chase looked up to the sky. Ever since they landed, he had yet to hear her voice again. Even though hearing it at this point caused nothing but pain, he still wanted to hear her. He looked down to Lock’s core. It shone in the sunlight that was starting to stream down at him.

“...” 

Maybe she wasn’t up there. Maybe this whole thing really was a trap. He could be endangering them all by going. He could see the irony in not wanting to be there after insisting for the past day that they head north. Maybe he should let them all take care of it themselves...

He clutched onto Lock’s core. No. He needed to do this. He wanted to see for himself if his mother really was there. The door opened and shut behind him.

“Hey. Uh. Chase.” It was Bren. Chase turned around to face him.

“What’s up?”

Bren held up the core tablet, “It’s uh. It’s your dad. I think he got the message from yesterday.”

Chase raised a brow. He walked over and took the tablet. His hand hovered over the play button. Would it be worth it to talk to his father about this? What would he even have to say about it? Chase looked up.

“Hey Bren,” he asked, “What do you think about all this? Do you think we should go up north?”

Bren raised a brow. “Why are you asking me? I thought we needed to go up there. Actually for a couple of reasons now that I think about it.”

Chase shifted his foot in the sand in thought. Yeah. He figured as much. 

“Okay,” Chase said, looking to the tablet. His hand hovered over the button again. Eventually, he handed it back to Bren.

“Uh. Chase?”

“I’ll tell him in person,” Chase said, going back into the inn. The truth was, he didn’t want to talk to his father right now. Every time he asked what happened to his mother, Jeredy would give vague answers. Granted he didn’t know as much as they knew now, but he had kept it all a secret for ten years. What was keeping the man from lying again?

“Alright guys,” Chase said as he walked inside, “Let’s go.”

“What? You mean right now?” Dax asked. Chase walked over to Beyal, shaking his shoulder a little.

“Do we have a plan still? Or are we going in guns blazing,” Jinja said, arms folded.

“Doesn’t matter. The sooner we take care of this the sooner we can get out of here,” Chase said, still shaking Beyal’s shoulder, “If we stick together this time, we won’t have the chance of being ambushed-Beyal wake up!”

The monk stayed motionless even when Chase took his robe and shook him more. Panic grew in Chase's chest. Eventually, Beyal's eyes slowly blinked open.

“Huh? What’s going on?”

Chase helped him up properly. “We’re going to the ruins up north. Bren, see if you can find the precise location.”

“Have it loaded in.”

Chase nodded to him, hands tightening around Lock’s core. He led the way out and back into the desert and into the storm. In the back of his mind something finally started to stir. 

~*~*~*~*~

They had ridden most of the morning until the wolf monsuno stopped. Clouds were right behind them as they went across the desert. The storm seemed to be moving quickly, and would be on top of them in hours.

“Hey. The monsuno isn’t moving anymore!” X-Ray said. 

“Yeah we can all see that.” Bravo frowned. “It looks like a whole lotta nothing out here.”

Alpha leapt down, his feet sinking into the sand. “No. There’s gotta be something here. It wouldn’t have stopped just because it was tired.”

The rest of them hopped off. The monsuno yawned before flopping down. Alpha’s eye twitched. Maybe it was just tired-

“Do you hear that?”

They all turned to Tango. 

“Huh?”

“There’s something… I hear something,” Tango said, looking around, “It sounds like… Humming?”

They were all quiet. The wind in the distance was howling, but they had heard that all day. Kilo sighed deeply.

“Sorry. But I’m not hearing anything,” he said, “Alpha. Maybe we ought to send our coordinates out. I don’t think we’re gonna run into that other monsuno anytime soon.”

“Yeah. I guess you might be right-”

Suddenly, the wolf monsuno rose up and growled. Alpha grew tense, thinking that it knew what they were planning. Before any of them could react, something exploded out of the sand. It spun into the air before landing. It was another white monsuno.

The mountain lion monsuno hissed at them and charged. The wolf monsuno clashed with it, the two rolling on the sand a few times before leering at each other.

“X-Ray! Signal the base!” Alpha exclaimed. X-Ray tapped at his communicator, sweat on his brow.

“Signal’s dead!”

“Look out!”

The monsuno rolled in their direction. The teens split off from each other. When it stood up, the mountain lion jumped at Alpha. The wolf monsuno blasted it in time as he fell. Alpha was picked up under his arms and dragged back up by Kilo and Tango.

“C’mon man! Get a signal!” Bravo said to X-Ray.

“I’m doing my best! You could try and do something instead of-”

“Signal to one of the cloud carriers nearby!” Kilo suggested, “Even with the storm coming, one of them has to pick up.”

“Wait! I hear something again!” Tango said, standing up. She looked in the other direction the monsuno were fighting in. They followed her sight, still only seeing the sand.

“I hear it to!” X-Ray said in surprise, “W-What is it?”

Alpha took out a pair of binoculars. He scanned over the desert. His sights locked onto a cave entrance poking out of the sand.

“There!” he said, pointing, “There’s an entrance to somewhere over-hold on! Someone’s there!”

Bravo took the binoculars next. “It’s hard to tell, but you’re right.”

Alpha stared. There was a good possibility that whoever this was could be the one controlling the monsuno. He glanced at the battle before nodding to himself.

“Alright,” he said, turning around as they all crouched, “X-Ray needs to get a signal to one of the cloud carriers. Do whatever you need to get it.”

X-Ray nodded.

“Bravo go with him. I doubt that monsuno is gonna just let us leave. Tango, offer support. Kilo, you and I are going after that guy over there.”

They all nodded.

“Warwing!”

“Deadfall!”

“Ironjaw!”

“Launch!”

The cores tapped against the wolf monsuno’s feet. X-Ray and Bravo climbed atop Deadfall and took off into the sky. The mountain lion monsuno locked onto them immediately. It threw the wolf monsuno aside and charged.

“Ironjaw! Stop it now!”

Ironjaw tackled it as it jumped. Alpha and Kilo hopped onto Warwing and quickly flew off towards the cavern entrance.

“I see them!” Kilo said.

“Good,” Alpha said, “Go down enough for me to-”

A blast of green energy shot Warwing out of the sky. It shrieked as it plummeted down. They were fortunate to be close to the ground, the two teens rolling into the sand. 

“Warwing!”

Alpha dug himself out of the sand, quickly looking around for whatever monsuno shot at them but found none.

“ _Eehhhh. Looks like someone’s shown up after all,”_ a young voice said over the wind, “ _None of you look like Suno… Must be regular intruders.”_

Alpha blinked. Now that he was closer to the cloaked figure, he realized they must’ve just been a kid. Alpha shook his head. Whatever. If this kid was in charge of the monsuno they'd have to be taken care of.

“You there!” Alpha said as he stood, “We are here on behalf of the Strategic and Tactical Operatives for Recovery of Monsuno! Where is the monsuno’s core?!”

The kid wasn’t looking in his direction. Instead, they were staring off towards the fighting monsuno. 

_“Oh! It’s here!_ ” They said with a hop, _“I should go tell Ehna! I think that’s the monsuno?”_

“Alpha get down!” Kilo shouted as Warwing leapt away. Alpha looked back to see the wolf monsuno launch a blast straight towards the cave. His eyes followed it.

“No wait!”

Before it could hit the one standing there, the cloaked figure held out a hand. Something shone brightly as the blast hit. Alpha looked away from the light, peeking enough to see that the energy vanished. Just as quickly, the figure jerked their other hand out, a beam of green light half-hazardly shooting around. Alph ducked back down as it crashed into the sand.

From behind, he heard monsuno shrieking. Alpha flipped around and saw the wolf monsuno and Ironjaw hit. Tango held her core out as Ironjaw was called back.

“ _Hey! Did I hit any of you?”_ the kid shouted, “ _Couldn’t see where to aim!”_

“Kilo! Help Tango!”

“On it boss!” Kilo replied as he hopped onto Warwing, He hurried over as Tango fled from the mountain lion monsuno.

Alpha placed Tripwire onto his strike launcher, flipping back onto his stomach and taking aim over towards the cave.

“Tripwire! Launch!”

It shot straight behind the other. Tripwire appeared, hissing down at the other.

 _“Oohh! A monsuno!”_ they said. Alpha stood up, holding his core out.

“You have ten seconds to turn yourself over before I take you by force!” he said, “Or would you rather see what Tripwire can do?”

The kid hummed as they tilted every which way. _“Ohhhh. You say that. But I’m not even the one you should be worried about.”_

Alpha’s brows furrowed. Just as he opened his mouth, something jumped behind him. A large shadow loomed over him. 

_“I was wondering who was causing all the noise!”_ A gruff voice said, _“I was beginning to think you got bored up here!”_

Alpha jerked, swerving around in time to see a large cloaked figure behind him, piercing green eyes leering at him.


	13. Chapter 13

Six turned around another corner, still finding empty tunnels. He had been chasing after that familiar woman for awhile now, always losing and finding her in intervals. She tried to run from him, but if he was anything, he was persistent.

It didn’t help that she definitely had something to do with Chase Suno. Six was supposed to battle Chase the previous night. Obviously he got a little distracted. And it was just his luck that S.T.O.R.M. would show up and interrupt his battle. 

Not that he got to the battle part.

Six heard something from the left. Ah. That’s where she must’ve been. He ran silently to not spook her. Creeping closer, he heard whispering. 

_“... if you come here we can-”_

She noticed Six’s presence and started to run again. 

“Wait!” he said, “Why can’t you tell me who you are? What do you have to do with Chase Suno?”

“Leave me alone! You’re not Chase! And you have nothing of interest to me!” she shouted. “I have to do this!”

Six reached out and grabbed her arm. She tried to tug free, fear in her green gaze.

“I’ll leave you alone if you tell me who you are and what you are to Chase,” he said, “He’s coming isn’t he? I need to know.”

She frowned at him, jerking away from him with a sigh. “... Fine.”

Six stood silently, watching as she shifted from foot to foot. It didn’t escape him that she was barefoot with some sort of tight green suit underneath her cloak. That wasn’t the weirdest thing he ever saw though, and dismissed it.

“I need Chase in order to be free,” she said, “If I hand him over than I’ll be allowed to go back.”

“Go back where?” Six asked. She stared at him. There was something unnerving about the blankness in her eyes after his question (enough so that even he felt uneasy). She suddenly turned away again.

“... I have to go now. Chase needs me,” her voice droned on. Six could tell that she wasn’t entirely aware of him anymore. Something in the back of his own mind stirred at that thought. He shook his head, continuing after her.

Despite her earlier protests, now she didn’t care as much about him following. Under her breath he could hear her mentioning Chase and Lock.

Six’s chest ached at that. He had learned that Chase and Lock shared a bond that not even he could get between. Even so, a part of him wished that maybe someone - anyone - could offer such a friendship. His father had insistent on not depending on such things. And yet, Six wanted to share that bond. At the very least with his own monsuno.

He took out Demise’s core. Six wondered if there would ever be a strong bond between him and his own monsuno. As much as he wanted to value them as weapons like his father, Six couldn’t share that sentiment. He sighed deeply, and started to follow this unknown woman. 

~*~*~*~

“There it is!” Bren said, holding the core tablet. Around them the storm was starting up again. Rain pelted them as they landed in the slurry of sand near the entrance to a mine. Chase took a steady breath as he looked around. There was no sign of anyone around. Was the Hand of Destiny really here?

He turned to the others as Jinja called back Skyfall. Beyal was being propped up by Dax and Bren, mostly asleep the whole way over. It made Chase even more nervous for what could await them. The group made their way into the entrance, the wind howling into the cold dark.

“So are we fighting the second we see someone?” Bren asked. “Might not be a lot of room, but I’m not really eager to face those monsuno again.”

“Gotta agree with Glasses on this one. We’re down one, and who knows what kind of other tricks they might have up their sleeves,” Dax said. Chase was more focused on the chill that ran up his spine as he stood there. Almost as if he could hear someone in-

“... Where. Are we here?”

Chase turned around again, realizing Beyal was awake. He walked over and put a hand on the other’s shoulder. “Great. Beyal, where do we-”

Images quickly flashed in his vision. He could feel the rage of the monsuno, and piercing green eyes on him. Chase jerked away, gasping as his breath caught in his throat. 

“Chase? What happened? What did you see?” Jinja asked. Chase tried to take more breaths, staring at the floor. Before he could respond, the cave suddenly shook. They all exchanged looks before hurrying down into the dark. 

Coming up with a plan wasn’t going to do them any good. Their plans never usually worked on cue anyway. The sooner they find this weird monsuno place the sooner they could leave. Chase could feel tension in his chest the further they got inside. All they had to do was just keep going.

After a few minutes they started to slow, Jinja cracking a glowstick. The pathway widened, revealing larger and even more expansive mining tunnels. 

“Oh great. We’re gonna be down here for days,” Bren grumbled. 

“We don’t have days,” Jinja said. Just then, something crashed through the wall in front of them. Bren snapped another light. As the dust cleared, they all saw the mountain lion monsuno. It started hissing at them before it locked its sights on Beyal. It made a clicking noise. 

Above them came a screeching noise. Looking up they saw a pair of large eyes staring down at them. The second the owl monsuno dived down, Jinja stepped forward.

“Whipper! Launch!”

Whipper jumped out in time to pin down the owl monsuno. Unfortunately, the mountain lion monsuno took the chance to jump at the group. Chase instinctively dove on Beyal as the monsuno soared over them. It twisted mid air, sliding on its paws before leaping again. Before it got close, another monsuno came barreling through the wall again. Chase had to blink a few times, realizing it was the Strike Squad’s monsuno.

Two of them jumped out from the hole, taking a step back at Team Core Tech’s presence.

“Oh great. What are you losers doing here?” Dax said, taking a hold of Boost’s core. 

“Woah there! We’re not here to fight you!” X-Ray said. It seemed like it was only him and Bravo there at the moment. “We’re trying to find Alpha and the others.”

“Why? They run off when he realized you guys were lame?” Jinja tossed over her shoulder as she commanded Whipper.

“For your information we ran off first!” X-Ray said, then blushed, “I-I mean- We called S.T.O.R.M. headquarters and they’re on their way here! You all better turn yourselves over!”

Dax relaxed as he stood. He raised a brow. “You mean the base that blew up?”

Just then, the ground below them started to shake. It cracked and moved under foot. Chase glanced around, trying to find a way out. The closest thing he could find were the tunnels above. 

“Guys! We gotta-Ah!”

The ground beneath him suddenly caved downward. He slid down a slope as his friends’ voices called out to him. He yelped as he tumbled down further. He crashed to the bottom, rolling a few times. He coughed, quickly looking back up. The sounds of the battle continued, the walls quaking. “Hold on guys I’m coming!”

Chase reached for Babeon’s core, but stopped when he heard something. 

Behind him was a tunnel that no doubt led into more. Within it, he could hear something. Chase reached into his pocket for a glowstick.

”H-hello? Is someone there?”

Despite the urgency to get back to everyone, something else was pulling him forward. And he knew who it was.

Chase’s fist clenched. Time to get to the bottom of this. He walked forward, fighting his nerves that were tensing at the thought of what he might face. If it was Petros and the other members of the Hand of Destiny, the fight would be difficult. But he _will_ take them down. Especially if they really did have his mother there.

Suddenly, there were footsteps ahead. He stopped, inhaling sharply. Chase’s fingers grazed over Lock’s core. “... Hello? Who’s there?”

He swallowed as the footsteps came closer. His eyes stared unblinking into the dark.

“Mom? Is that you?” 

Familiar laughter echoed around him. Chase tensed as he found himself face to face with Klipse.

“Not quite!”

~*~*~*~

When the floor shifted below them and Chase was separated from them, the group all scattered about. The rogue monsuno paid no attention as they veered around and pounced at the teens.

“Whipper!” Jinja shouted as the mountain lion monsuno tried to swipe at the Strike Squad. Whipper charged up before shooting at it. The monsuno jumped up at the last second. The blast hit the other wall, causing more of the floor to collapse.

“You’re supposed to be helping us not them!” Dax exclaimed. Jinja huffed at him.

“Maybe it’d be easier if I had some help!” 

The owl monsuno cried out. It’s screech was shrill, echoing around them. They all clenched their ears. 

“Bren look out!” Beyal shouted as he tugged Bren out of the way of the monsuno’s talons. Beyal dragged him along into one of the tunnels as the monsuno chased them. As they fled inside, the owl monsuno tried to squeeze into the hole after them, its wings flapping furiously. 

“Jinja. We gotta follow them!” Dax said.

“What about Chase? Ah!”

Whipper was tossed back. The recoil threw the two backwards. Dax tumbled back into the dark. He coughed, waving the dust away. He got back to his feet, looking around. Looks like one of the other tunnels. Great. Now they were all separated. 

“Well. At least Bren and Beyal have each other.” Dax shrugged to himself. He shook his head, looking back to see that the way he came was filled already. Maybe he could dig his way out-

Suddenly, a scream rang out. Dax jumped, recognizing it immediately.

“Jinja!” he said, and started running, “Hold on!”

He took a hold of Boost’s core, ready to throw down with the monsuno. Surprisingly, he found it easy to navigate in the dark. 

He spotted a light, running quicker. When Dax got close, he realized it was a small flashlight. He raised a brow. He didn’t remember any of them having a light-

Something crackled. Dax only had a brief moment to turn before lightning shot through his body. He flopped down, muscles twitching as his core rolled away. It hit a boot, lightly getting picked up. Chuckling echoed around him.

“Can’t believe you fell for that trick!”

Dax blinked, faintly seeing Jinja looking down at him. Only she wore an outfit from S.T.O.R.M., yellow cores on her belt.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Three more chapter three more chapter

Alpha woke up to pain in his side. He couldn’t see much, a faint light from above. He groaned as he leaned away from the wall he was up against. His vision blurred a little when he did.

He winced. The last thing he remembered was that large person coming up from behind him when he was-

Alpha gasped. He looked around, Kilo and Tango were both lying near him. They also seemed to be knocked out, most likely from the same person. Alpha looked up, finally noticing that they were in a hole. He stood up, seeing a faint blue glow above.

“ _Oh you’re awake!”_

Alpha blinked a few times. It was the kid from before, sitting on the edge of the hole. Alpha growled.

“Hey! Whoever you are, you have ten seconds to-”

“ _Let you out before I’m arrested or whatever you said right?”_ the kid finished, “ _Blah blah blah. You’re really noisy.”_

Alpha clenched his fists. He reached down for Tripwire’s core and stopped. The core was gone!

“Wha-Where’s my monsuno?” Alpha said, then looked back up, “Hey! Where’s my core?!”

“ _How should I know? I’m not allowed to touch them,”_ they responded back, feet swinging around, “ _I think that Ehna has them. Wait. I probably shouldn’t have said that… Oh well. You’re probably coming with us after this anyway. You have the sight after all.”_

Alpha raised a brow, unsure of what to make of what the other was saying (he was reminded of Commander Trey’s annoying kid nephew who showed up at the base sometimes). Kilo and Tango started to stir as more footsteps came from above. Alpha looked back up and saw that it was the larger figure from before.

“ _Suno’s here. Better make sure you don’t let the monsuno get loose again.”_

The kid huffed before standing. “ _I wasn’t the one who let it loose! That was Tesserah’s fault!”_

The larger didn’t respond, instead walking off. The younger started to follow before turning back with a small gasp.

“ _Don’t worry! We’ll be back if we remember!”_

Alpha grit his teeth. He slid back down and took out his communicator. Even though X-Ray and Bravo had taken off, they had to be close enough to pick up a message from them.

“Hello? X-Ray? Bravo? Are you there?” he asked quietly, “Hello? We need help! Argh! No signal!”

“Hey,” Kilo said, sitting up, “Don’t worry. They know where we are. They’ll be back.”

“Maybe. But I don’t like this,” Alpha huffed. He looked around the sides of the hole, trying to figure out a way to climb out. Even if they stood atop one another, he might not reach. “So I’m guessing you were caught too right?” 

Kilo leaned back as Tango propped herself up onto her palms. “Obviously. We both saw you get knocked out. We got cornered by the monsuno before we could even reach you… Whoever these guys are, they aren’t normal.”

Alpha frowned. That was obvious from the way that kid from before somehow redirected a monsuno’s attack. Unless it was some sort of technology or a trick. If it was technology, it was too dangerous to be in someone else’s hands. 

“How’d you two feel?”Alpha asked.

“My arm’s a little sore. Might make it hard to climb,” Kilo said, flexing his wrist.

“I don’t think I can stand,” Tango said, gaze down, “I landed funny earlier. It might be my ankle.”

Alpha nodded. So it looks like he’d have to climb out on his own. He reached to his belt, but found nothing. He expected as much. He clenched his fists. Only one way out.

He started up the side of the hole, but every few feet he ended up sliding back down right where he started. He didn’t stop, knowing his teammates were counting on him.

~*~*~*~

Chase frowned as he faced Klipse in the dark. His eyes went up and down, trying to figure out if he was actually the shapeshifter, or someone else. When he saw Klipse grab a red core, Chase knew that it was really him. 

“Well well well. Look who we have here,” Klipse said with a smirk, “Wasn’t expecting you Chase Suno, but then again you always show up where you’re not wanted.”

“I think you’re confusing me for yourself,” Chase scoffed, “What are you even doing here?”

“Obviously I’m here for the monsuno energy! And you and your little friends are not getting in my way again! Backslash!”

“Lock!”

“Launch!”

The cores collided. Both monsuno roared at each other, shaking the entire cavern.

“Inferno Cannon!”

“Inner shine!”

Explosions erupted through the small space. Chase could barely keep track of the monsuno in the dark. He clutched onto the core, keeping it close as he watched Lock’s time tick away.

“Lock, energy wave!”

Light came from the far end of the cavern, but Lock must’ve taken a hit as a chunk of his heath depleted.

“You can keep fighting if you want, but I’m not letting Jeredy get his hands on more monsuno energy!” Klipse exclaimed. Chase growled under his breath. He didn’t have time for this-

“ _Chase?”_

He gasped at the voice. The battle cane to a halt. It wasn’t like before where the voice echoed on the recesses of his mind. _It was here_.

Chase quickly turned. Even in the dark and faint flashes of energy, he could see the silhouette of a cloaked figure by one of the tunnels. They reached up, the hood dropping down. Chase’s eyes widened.

“... Mom?”

Her eyes softened, hand clenched to her chest. The battle was forgotten as Chase stared back into her green gaze. Lock’s core slipped slightly as he took a step.

But he stopped as soon as he saw the one standing behind her. Immediately his grip tightened around Lock’s core. 

“Wh-Six!” Chase shouted. Lock, sensing his anger, jumped in front of him with a roar. Both Sophia and Six hardly reacted to the monsuno, instead looking to Chase.

“So. You’re Sophia,” Klipse said, rubbing the metal fastenings on his core, “I remember hearing of you from Jeredy during our late nights. So you’re actually alive.”

Sophia ignored Klipse, still looking to Chase. She smiled softly to him, holding out a hand.

“C’mon Chase. Let’s go,” she said.

Chase’s shoulders sank, staring at her. Everything faded around him. Even Klipse and Six’s presences were gone as they looked to each other. He took another step, fighting back the tears as something warm welled up in his chest. It was her. It was really her!

“Mom-”

Suddenly, Lock roared again. Chase ran in front of the monsuno.

“Easy buddy! Wait until she’s out of the way-”

Backslash suddenly barreled into Lock. The monsuno nudged Chase away with its paw, the teen barely tossed aside far enough to avoid being hit by Backslash’s claws. Chase gripped his core as he got back to his feet.

“Lock! Emerald Diamond Rain!”

“Six!” Klipse shouted, “Grab Sophia!”

The clone surprisingly didn’t react, instead staring at Sophia. His hand reached out towards her as she continued to watch Chase. 

Chase ran over, fist raised as he swung into Six’s face. “Get away from her!”

Six fell to the ground. He rubbed his cheek, blinking a few times. Chase ignored him, taking Sophia’s hand instead, “C’mon! Let’s-”

The second he touched her hand, the world dropped away from them. They were plunged further into the dark. It got cold. He couldn’t move.

“ _Chase_ ,” she said, voice making chills go up his back. He forced himself to turn to her. Despite her calm demeanor, there was something in her eyes that made him panic.

Lock’s eyes came into focus behind her. She turned around, the monsuno roaring at them. Chase tried to move, but his body refused. Sophia grabbed his other wrist, holding out the core.

“Return!” she commanded. Lock growled at her, taking a step back. She tightened her grip, frown set on her lips. “I said, return!”

Lock took another step back before fleeing.

Chase could only watch as his monsuno ran into the dark. He tried to speak but his voice choked in his throat. Sophia sighed, pressing him close to her chest.

“ _Don’t worry Chase,”_ she said softly, eyes alight, “ _You get to come with me. Let’s leave together to see the Hand of Destiny.”_

~*~*~*~

Bren screamed as he and Beyal slid along down one of the tunnels. They ran along as the owl monsuno tried to go after them, and ended up falling along one of the more shallow mine shafts. 

Luckily the bottom smoothed out rather than ending abruptly. Bren grabbed his glowstick that slid next to him. “Where do you think we ended up now?”

When Beyal didn’t respond right away, Bren turned to look. The monk got up to his hands and knees, eyes alight. Bren inhaled sharply.

Beyal stood and started to run. Bren stumbled to his feet to follow. “W-Wait!”

He really didn’t want to just leave everyone behind to deal with the monsuno. And he _really_ didn’t want to be running around in the dark with just Beyal half there with him. Just his luck he’d get stuck running around in the dark with the monsuno. Again. At least this time they wouldn’t have to deal with Dom Pyro.

Bren suddenly ran into Beyal’s back. He was almost knocked back, steadying himself just enough to stay upright.

“What? What’s wrong?” Bren asked, peeking over the other’s shoulder. Up ahead was the end of the tunnel, leading out into another cavern. A faint blue light could be seen inside. 

The monsuno took Bren’s hand. “ _Stay close.”_

Bren blushed when they slowly went forward. He tried to jerk his hand away, but the monsuno had a _really_ strong grip. Then again, if there was a shapeshifter running around it could be for the best they stay close. His attention drew elsewhere when the cavern came into view.

He recognized it from yesterday, noting how the far side was probably where they had been before it had collapsed. Still, at least it was big enough to spin out. Bren took a hold of Neo-Quickforce’s core just in case. 

When they stopped, Bren looked towards the glowing pool further ahead. “Is that the thing we’re looking for?”

Before the other could respond, there was a whistling noise. Suddenly, Bren felt his feet swept from under his feet and he was pulled away. Something exploded, disorienting him further. 

Coughing away the dust, Bren blinked and realized that Beyal had picked him up and jumped away. He looked over where they were standing, which was in the cloud of rubble.

_“Oh! It’s not a mouse this time!”_

The two looked over towards the water. Standing nearby was a small figure in a brown cloak. Beyal set Bren down, standing in front of him with a narrowed gaze. Bren adjusted his glasses. “Who’s that?”

“ _Doesn’t matter who I am,”_ they responded, “ _Whoever you are, you better leave. Unless… Ah. You must be part of Suno’s gang!”_

“ _Bren,”_ the monsuno said, making Bren jump.

“Ah-What?” 

“ _Call out your monsuno.”_

“Why?”

Beyal grew tense, fists clenched. “ _They’re not normal. They’re dangerous.”_

“Really?” Bren raised a brow. He took a step before Beyal pulled him over his shoulder and jumped back again. A blast landed right where they had been.

“ _Wow! You’re fast! Faster than those weirdos in the white suits!”_

The monsuno reached to Beyal’s belt. Bren grabbed his wrist.

“W-Wait! A sec!” he said, “We can’t just attack a kid!”

Beyal’s eyes flicked to him. Bren flinched at the look. The monsuno opened his mouth to say something but instead winced and held his head.

“... _No… Not now... Must get to-”_

Before Bren could react, something flickered from the corner of his vision. He looked over and saw that the figure from before had disappeared. “Uh-Where-”

“ _Oh! You have one!”_

Bren froze. He twisted back and saw the figure now standing a few feet behind him looking at something. Bren gasped when he realized it was Neo-Quickforce’s core. When did-

“Hey! Give that back!”

Instead of paying attention to the two, the kid held a palm out towards them. In the brief second, Bren saw something on his hand that grew bright. Bren was pulled down again, a blast of energy barely soaring overhead and hitting the back wall. The cavern shook. Bren glanced back with a gulp.

“ _How do you get the essence out of here?”_ the kid asked, shaking the core around, “ _Well. I guess it doesn’t matter. I recharged before this. I should get-”_

Beyal suddenly got up and sprinted for the pool of water. The two watched before the kid gasped.

“ _Ah! Wait- you’re the monsuno!”_

They ran after Beyal, Neo-Quickforce’s core still in hand. Bren got up, chasing after.

“Hey! Gimme back my monsuno!”

He took a few steps before hearing a voice somewhere. Bren skidded to a halt, looking around.

“ _Hey! Is someone there! Help!”_

Bren blushed. He recognized that voice! Looking around, he spotted a small tunnel towards the left. He glanced towards Beyal, who was now dodging as more blasts of energy were shot around. Bren scooted off to the side before running into the tunnel. 

He nearly slid into a hole in the ground, waving his arms with a squeak. Looking inside, he saw the missing Strike Squad members. His lips quirked at the sight of Alpha’s enraged face.

“Wow. You’re even lamer than I though,” he said, “How’d you even get caught?”

Alpha growled at him. “Will you just get us out of here already!”

Bren dug into his bag. He took out a bundle of rope, tying it to a nearby rock. As soon as it was stable he tossed it down into the hole. Within five seconds Alpha was next to him, breathing hard. 

“H-Hey there buddy,” Bren said with a nervous grin, “Uh. Your teammates were looking for you-”

“Save it!” Alpha snapped. He went back to the rope, helping Tango up. She winced in pain as she slumped up onto the ground, crawling back slightly. Bren tensed up. 

“Ah-uh-um. Ah. Are-are you-” he stuttered. Tango was more focused on scooting away from the hole as Alpha gripped onto the rope.

“Hey! Geek!” he growled, “Get over here and help!”

Bren grumbled, deciding it was probably for the better to help. He took the rope, helping Alpha hoist up Kilo. When the last Strike Squad member was out, Alpha stood back up to Bren. 

“Where’s our monsuno?”

Bren raised a brow, “How would I know? We just got here-”

“We? Ah that’s right. Chase is here isn’t he,” Alpha said, looking off to the side, “He better be close- Kilo, try and get a message out to the others. Stay here and look after Tango.”

He ran for the cavern with the pool in it. Bren looked back and forth, deciding to run after Alpha and check on Beyal. Just as the two got halfway down the tunnel, there was a loud noise. The tunnel shook from the force. The two teens halted. They exchanged looks before deciding to slow down.

They crept to the entrance of the cavern, stopping short. Bren gasped. Apparently more than one weirdo showed up.

”That’s the one that caught us,” Alpha whispered. A larger cloaked figure had shown up. Bren eyed their arms, which were bulky, muscular, and had scales. Instead of hands there sharp claws, which were currently clenched around Beyal’s neck as he was pressed up against the wall.


	15. Chapter 15

“Whipper! Sonic blast!”

Jinja crouched down as more rocks were thrown into the air. Both Bravo and X-Ray were next to her, the latter tapping away at a communicator. 

“Haven’t you gotten a signal yet?” Bravo shouted.

“I’m doing my best with what I got!” X-Ray snapped back, “I still can’t get a signal out to S.T.O.R.M., but I almost found Alpha and the others.”

Jinja looked out to the battle. For some reason, only the mountain lion stayed there to fight. But even then, it was trying to get to the three teens. Jinja turned to the two. “If you found them can you go ahead and leave? I got better things to do than watch you.”

The two shot her a look, though she ignored it in favor of trying to figure out where everyone went. The tunnels Chase and Dax had gone down had collapsed. Which meant her best option was going after Bren and Beyal and hoping that the other two would find them.

“Whipper, reflecting ray!” 

Whipper’s collar grew bright before shining out at the mountain lion monsuno. As soon as it did, jinja took off towards the other side. She held out her core, calling back Whipper. The mountain lion shook its head from the hit before turning and hissing. It charged after her. 

Jinja slid down into the dark. The monsuno clawed after her, but most likely got stuck on the entrance similar to the ones before when they tried going after Bren and Beyal. She held her breath, eventually sliding to an easy stop. It was quiet as she stood.

She snapped a glowstick, finding only one direction to go in. Before she could move, Jinja heard a noise behind her and turned. She let out a groan.

“Why are you two following me?” 

“What do you mean ‘following?’” X-Ray frowned. “We’re just following Alpha’s signal! And it’s leading us this way!”

Not wanting to argue, Jinja just sighed and kept walking. Whatever. They could follow if they wanted-

Jinja ran straight into someone. She looked up and froze. It was Six.

She jumped back, nearly knocking over the two Strike Squad members as she did. “What are you doing here?”

Six held his hands up. “N-Nothing. I’m just-”

“Wait!” Jinja halted, holding up a hand when he tried to take a step towards them. “Your core. Show it to me.”

Six raised a brow. He pulled out a familiar red core for her to see. She sighed in relief before tensing up again. “Alright… So you’re. You… What are you doing here?”

“I was following the voice I heard,” Six said, “But. I can’t remember much after I saw this woman. She kept wanting to find Chase.”

Jinja raised a brow. A woman? Having to do with Chase? She gasped. It couldn’t be.

“I got lost though,” Six continued, “I need to find my father. We got lost in the dark and-”

"What did she look like?"

"Hmm?"

"The woman. What did she look like?"

"She had long brown hair. And vibrant eyes. And she spoke softly."

“Which way did she go?” Jinja asked, taking a few steps towards the clone. Six backed away slightly before looking away nervously.

“I’m… Not sure. She might’ve gone that way-” he gestured behind him “-but I can’t be sure-”

“‘K thanks!” Jinja said, running off again. It this woman was who Six was describing, then maybe Chase wasn't so crazy after all. Or it was just another trick. Either way, she needed to find the others as soon as possible.

Jinja could hear the footsteps of the Strike Squad behind her, but couldn’t tell if Six was following. She shook her head. She didn’t have time to worry about that. She just had to find everyone before the Hand of Destiny did.

~*~*~*~

Beyal slowly blinked a few times, it was dark in the cavern, but a faint blue light illuminated the area enough to make out the shadows along the walls. It was also light enough to see that a large clawed hand was pressing him up against a wall, the palm easily covering his entire chest while the claws dug into the wall. The one in front of him wore a brown cloak, which didn’t hide the appearance of fangs and fur from underneath the hood.

“... Who- Who are you?” Beyal breathed out. The person looked more closely him. He could tell they were staring into his eyes, their own shining green.

“Ah. The monsuno isn’t around,” they said, voice deep and hoarse, “Better hope it comes back before the others get here.”

“ _Too late for that.”_

The two looked over towards one of the tunnels. Beyal gasped when he saw Jinja standing there, dragging Dax along before dropping him down. Beyal frowned. No. This wasn’t Jinja. It was the shapeshifter.

“Oh you got the monsuno. Good,” the shapeshifter said, stretching out, “Where’s Exi and Tesserah?”

 _“I’m over here!”_ Piped a small voice. Towards the other side of the cavern a small figure dug themself out from the wall. They tripped on the way out, flopping to the ground. Their hood slipped off, revealing a black haired boy with pale skin. His raised his arms. “I’m okay!”

The shapeshifter rolled their eyes, going up to Beyal. Despite looking like Jinja, the cold look in their gaze said otherwise.

“Alright monsuno. I know you can hear me,” they said, “Get out here. Might as well get this over with-Exi get away from those cores.” 

The boy had snuck towards Dax, looking at his bandolier. He raised one hand when the shapeshifter looked his way.

“I’m not touching them! I’m just looking-”

The shapeshifter frowned, facing the other. “What’s that?”

“Er-What’s what-ah!”

The shapeshifter walked over and grabbed the boy’s wrist, hoisting him in the air. In his hand Beyal could see Neo-Quickforce’s core. The shapeshifter took it, examining it.

“... This is Core Tech. Where did you get this from?”

The boy scratched his cheek. The shapeshifter dropped him, placing the core on S.T.O.R.M. belt they wore.

“Well. Whatever,” they said, “Whoever’s core this is, they won’t go far without it. I doubt they’re worth looking for… I suppose we just wait for Tesserah to get back here-”

Slow footsteps came from the dark. All eyes went towards the sound, the three tensing while Beyal held his breath. His eyes widened at seeing Chase walking forward, eyes drawn to the ground as someone walked behind him, hands on his shoulders. He opened his mouth to say something but felt the claws tense up.

When he looked to Chase, he was surprised that the one behind him was none other than Sophia Suno.

“About time you got here,” the shapeshifter huffed as the boy - Exi - ran up to the two, curiously circling around the pair. He waved his hand in front of Chase.

“You didn’t kill him did you? I don’t think Petros will be happy if we killed him,” he said. Sophia, who Beyal realized was also most likely a shapeshifter, didn’t respond. Her eyes were distant, staying focused on Chase. 

The Jinja shapeshifter huffed, reaching into their pocket and grabbing a strip of green cloth. They tied it around their forehead before green light glided over their body. They became leaner and taller. Jinja’s long red hair turned to a short chestnut color. Glancing back briefly towards the monk, Beyal could tell that it was a young man with emerald eyes like the rest of them. He turned back to Chase and ‘Sophia.’

“Well. Whatever,” he said, “We completed one of the objectives. Now we just need the monsuno. Stop playing pretend and let’s get this over with already.”

The claws tightened. Beyal inhaled sharply as he was pressed up more into the wall.

“We don’t need the monsuno. We have Chase,” ‘Sophia’ said, not looking at any of them. Her eyes widened as she spoke, “We can leave. We can leave right now. We can leave and never go back to the Hand of Destiny! We can- We can-”

The shapeshifter walked up to her and slapped her across the face. 

The sound echoed through the cave from the force. He took a hold of the front of her robes, forcing one hand to let go of Chase.

“Tesserah, get a grip,” the shapeshifter said, voice steady even with wide eyes glaring at her, “You have to remember: If we don’t finish this mission we’re all dead. _All_ of us.”

He drew her closer when she tried to look away. “It doesn’t matter if we leave. We leave now and-Exi! I swear if you go near any cores one more time-”

The boy jumped away from Chase, hands raised. Before any of them could move, a faint noise resounded through the cavern. 

All eyes went towards the furthest tunnel. The claws around Beyal tightened suddenly. He gasped, the air getting crushed out of his lungs.

“I can see you over there!” the large figure called out, “Better come out now before I-”

The grip relaxed enough for Beyal to take a breath. He coughed a few times, seeing Bren and Alpha from Strike Squad walk out. The boy made a noise.

“See! That’s the one I got the core from!” he said, pointing at Bren. The shapeshifter clicked his tongue before looking at ‘Sophia.’

“We’re not done. As soon as we get rid of this trash we’re-”

Smoke suddenly erupted into the area around the small group. A familiar voice rang out as a core came spinning towards them.

“Charger, launch!”

~*~*~*~

Charger’s core hit, the monsuno roaring into the smoke. The group backed away from it. As soon as they did, Dax swept his leg out and tripped the shapeshifter into the black haired boy. Dax tugging Neo-Quickforce’s core from the S.T.O.R.M. belt as the other fell and ran off.

“Ehna get off me!”

"Move then you brat!" 

Dax paused for a second as he heard a loud thud. A figure ran out of the smoke towards him and he relaxed. 

“You alright there monkf-oh!” Dax stopped, glowing eyes looking at him in a blank stare. It was the monsuno again.

“ _This way,”_ it said, turning and running. Given no choice, Dax followed. Only after a few paces were they out of the smoke and next to Bren and Alpha.

“Oh! Dax! Beyal! Over here!”

“Stop waving your arms around we see you,” Dax snapped. He tossed Neo-Quickforce’s core over. “Here Glasses. Though you might want this.”

Bren smiled as he caught the core. “Welcome back buddy. Sorry I lost you for a sec.”

Charger roared again. A flurry of small green blasts shot out from the smoke, hitting all around the cavern.

“ _Stop shooting at the air!”_

_“Then you fight off the monsuno! Don't you have those two?”_

“We gotta get out of here mates,” Dax said, “Come back and regroup.”

“But what about Chase?” Bren asked, “We can’t just-”

He stopped as he turned towards Beyal, blushing horribly at the sight of the monk pressing his lips up to Alpha’s.

Alpha’s eyes went wide, face almost as red as his hair while his hands hovered at his sides in shock. Bren gawked openly, nearly dropping Neo-Quickforce’s core. Dax raised a hand towards them, also at a loss for words. He shook his head quickly.

“Oi! Monsuno this is no time for-“

A large clawed hand reached out from the smoke, grabbing Beyal by the back of his cloak, and yanked him away with a gasp.

“ _Got the monsuno!”_

Two white cores spun out towards Charger. From them appeared the mountain lion and owl monsuno. They didn’t hesitate, jumping into Charger. Dax grabbed a core.

“Airswitch, launch!”

Airswitch barreled itself into the owl monsuno, crashing into the cavern wall. Charger rose enough to shove the mountain lion monsuno upward. It twisted around, clawing into the ceiling.

The smoke started to clear. Dax saw the three from before gathering together. Beyal was struggling to get out of the large figure's grasp.

“We need to extract the monsuno!” the shapeshifter said, holding two white cores in hand. They glowed briefly. The mountain lion monsuno shot a rain of diamonds at Charger. With Charger down, it dropped and dashed towards Jinja, only to be stopped by yellow blasts. The Strike Squad must’ve followed Jinja, as Bravo and X-Ray we’re standing some ways away with their monsuno.

“Blockade, Chaos Turen!”

More yellow blasts ricocheted around. The shapeshifter looked to the large figure, who nodded before slamming Beyal into the ground, effectively knocking him out. Dax sprinted over.

“Hold on there Beyal!”

The shapeshifter jumped in front of Dax, who reeled back his hand in a punch. The shapeshifter grabbed Dax's fist. From his other side came Jinja. She kicked upward, only for Dax to be thrown at her. They flopped to the ground.

“Agh! Thanks for getting in my way Dax!” Jinja complained. Another monsuno towered over them. It was the jackal monsuno.

“Neo-Quickforce! Ring Cannon!”

The monsuno was blasted away from them. Bren smiled briefly before turning towards the Hand of Destiny. The shapeshifter looked to each of them, the cores in his hands still bright. The boy focused on Neo-Quickforce, hands held up as his palms lit up. 

Before any of them could move, the air became charged with energy. The blue light got intense. They all looked towards the source.

Standing before the now glowing pool was Alpha. He turned to face them, eyes alight as energy swirled all around.

“The monsuno!” The shapeshifter shouted. He looked to the other two, who nodded before they all ran towards Alpha.

Bren ran over to Beyal as Dax and Jinja got up.

"Is he okay?"

"I think so."

"What do we- Look!"

The white monsuno suddenly stopped, they all made strangled noises as the light grew brighter. 

"What's going on?!" Bren shouted.

“Doesn't matter! We gotta get out of here!” Dax responded. From the corner of his vision he saw the four Strike Squad members reunite towards the back, now running to help Alpha-

“Ah,” Bren gasped, looking around. Jinja and Dax called back their monsuno as they focused on getting out.

“Oi. Glasses, give us a hand over here with-“

“Hold on!” Bren panicked, looking all around now that the smoke had settled and the light cast away all the shadows of the cavern. “Where’s Chase?!”

~*~*~*~

The sound of someone saying his name was what stirred him. Chase groaned, trying to fight off the haze in his mind. His vision blurred when he tried to focus. Maybe he should just-

“... _Chase. Chase wake up.”_

He recognized the voice, but his body was refusing to cooperate. He knew he was walking, but why couldn’t he fully feel his arms and legs? Murmuring got his attention.

“... and then it’ll just be you and me. There’s no need for anyone else-“

“ _Chase_!”

He forced his legs to stop. His vision kept going in and out, though he heard someone stand in front of him. There were hands clasping his shoulders.

“Don’t listen to anyone else. Listen to me. I’m the only one that you need-“

Something burned in his hand. It was enough to send his nerves on fire and snap him out of his daze. He jerked away, falling backwards.

Chase gasped, looking all around as he realized he was still in the tunnels. Except there was no sign of Klipse or Six. Where did-

A step came towards him. Chase turned with a gasp. That’s right. His mom was-

“ _Don’t be fooled.”_

He reached into pocket, trying to find a light to use. There was nothing there, and instead Chase gripped onto Lock’s core. While it was bright enough to cast some light, the usual glow to it was dull. 

Chase couldn’t focus on that. Not when he was face to face with his mother.

“M-mom?” He stuttered, “What- Where are we?”

“Come here Chase. You don’t have to worry about anything now,” she said. Her voice was dreamy, a smile on her lips. Chase could tell she wasn’t quite looking at him. It felt like she was looking through him.

_“Run Chase.”_

Chase turned. That voice seemed familiar. Where was it coming from? He gasped when he finally recognized it. “Wait. That’s-”

“ _That’s not really your mother.”_

Sophia took a step towards him, making Chase jerk. Her lips curled up. The warm smile was replaced for a more sinister expression.

“Ah. You’re troubled. You don’t want to listen,” she mused, “That’s fine. I’ll just take you back to the hand by force!”

Chase stepped back. His free hand reached for another monsuno. His fingertips glossed over a core, though he hesitated on spinning it out here.

“That-you're not really my mom are you?” he asked. Her expression quickly changed, going to a more hurt look. It was gone as fast as it appeared, her head tilting back as she laughed aloud.

“That doesn’t matter does it?” she said, staring up. She faced him again, eyes wide and shining. “You’re mine! You can’t leave here! Not without me! Whether we go back or not.”

“You’re crazy!”

“Come here Chase-“

A blue beam shot out of the wall. Chase flinched away, only looking when he heard a growl. He smiled at the sign of white fur and blue eyes.

“Great timing Lock!” He said as he ran up to the monsuno, “Wait. How did you stay outside your core this long?”

That was when Chase realized there was a second pair of glowing eyes on him. Behind Lock was a large white wolf. Chase tensed at the appearance of the creature, but Lock was calm. The wolf came up to him before licking up the side of his body. He laughed at how it tickled. “Well. I guess that explains that-“

There was coughing. They turned to the noise. His mom-no. It wasn’t his mom. It was someone else. Whoever it was glared at Lock with an intense green gaze.

“How dare you monsuno!” She hissed. Lock growled at her before scooping Chase up and fleeing down the tunnel. The wolf monsuno growled before turning on 'Sophia'.

“Wait! Lock-go back!”

Lock growled at him and kept running. He could hear the shapeshifter shouting at him. Chase cringed at the pain in her cries. But he knew better. He knew to trust his monsuno.

Lock roared as it rammed through the wall, opening up to a bright white light. Chase winced, holding up a hand against it. Energy was charged in the air, swirling and building around.

“Chase!”

He looked over and saw the rest of team core tech.

“We were wondering where you were!” Jinja said.

“What happened?” Chase asked, noting how Beyal slumped against Bren and Dax, “Did you guys get the monsuno free?”

Bren scratches his cheek. “Sort of...? It jumped into Alpha before the Hand of Destiny guys went after it.”

Chase opened his mouth to ask what Bren meant, but was stopped when he saw the three rogue monsuno from before morphing in the light. They no longer looked thin and sickly, and instead had shed away the crystals to reveal fur and feathers. He couldn’t see further towards the light, but Chase did spot the Strike Squad all escaping through one of the tunnels. He nodded to himself.

“C’mon guys. I think it’s about time we get out of here too-”

“You aren’t going anywhere!”

Suddenly there was pain radiating in his head. Chase gasped, curling up as it grew hot. Ringing resounded in his ears. He felt everyone gather around him, but he couldn’t focus on what they were saying. He looked back enough to see the Sophia shapeshifter staring down at him from the entrance of the tunnel he made. She smiled at him before stepping towards the group. 

Before she could get near, the three white monsuno stood behind the group of teens. They all loomed over, but they glared at ‘Sophia.’ She stumbled back slightly at their appearance, but then charged forward.

“You aren’t stopping me now!”

The white monsuno surged forward at her. The pain subsided enough for Chase to slump down in relief. He faintly heard everyone calling to him. He shook his head, standing back up. When he looked up, he was staring into Lock’s eyes. 

Chase’s grip tightened on the core he held. “Everyone. Get on!”

The group of teens scrambled on. Chase glanced back towards the fake one last time. Despite dodging the monsuno, her eyes were only on him. He shuddered at her green gaze. 

“Lock. Power harness!”

Lock roared as a shield appeared around it. With one large leap, he surged upward through the ceiling. Light erupted right behind them, exploding outward. They all gripped onto Lock, who roared out as the shield withstood the blast.

Faintly, Chase could’ve sworn he heard Sophia screaming out his name.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poggers I can get back to Yugayohs

Six stood there outside in the desert far away from the entrance that he had gone through hours ago, Klipse at his side. He was fortunate to get out of the tunnels once the monsuno energy started to build around them.

After he had encountered Chase Suno’s friend, Six knew that there was something wrong. He remembered following this strange woman who had something to do with Chase Suno (as usual), but then she stopped trying to run away suddenly. Her demeanor changed. Instead of running away, she asked to take Six’s hand. 

But that was all he could remember.

What happened down there? What did she do? Did she find Chase in the end? He rubbed the back of his neck. He had never felt this… Anxious? About something with Chase before. Usually it was anger or contempt. Maybe he’d figure out what happened if he saw Chase again.

Of course that was when the monsuno energy started to build in the cave, along with the earthquakes that rattled the ground every other minute.

Something was going on, and it would probably be bad for him and his father. Luckily as soon as he had gotten back to the entrance, Six ran into Klipse. Surprisingly the man was very easy to convince to leave. Almost as if he had gotten what he came there for.

The ground shook again. The storm overhead thundered loudly, though no rain came down. Six wondered if it was because of what was going on below. He shuffled his feet uncomfortably.

"… Father? Are we leaving?" he asked. Klipse ignored him, a smirk on his face as he stared back at the entrance to the cave. He pulled out his communicator.

"… Hargrave. Send a transport to the desert for me. And make sure to save the location we’re at. I have a feeling that whatever is going on here will be necessary for my future experiments," Klipse said. More words were spoken on the other side, and he closed the small communicator.

“Will we be going after Chase?” Six asked. Klipse let out a scoff as he turned to walk more into the desert. 

“Not quite,” he said, not bothering to turn around, "We’ll analyze the readings we got from the monsuno essence. I don’t doubt that it’ll give us a clue on unlocking the power for my monsuno army! Whether Chase Suno has anything to do with it doesn’t matter.”

The two looked into the distance. There were S.T.O.R.M. ships approaching. Klipse scoffed again. “Let’s go. The last thing we need is to get caught up by that icy queen and her guard before we have a chance to obtain any of that energy."

The clone turned to glance briefly at the cave one last time, wondering if Chase Suno had managed to get out, or if he had met that strange woman. 

And yet, even though he was supposed to hate Chase and his friends, for some reason Six actually hoped that Chase and the red-haired girl would make it out alright.

"… Six!"

He shook his head, then ran after his father. Six didn’t have time to concern himself with what happened. Perhaps he would have to ask his father for another one of their sessions that would help clear his mind.

Just as they started to leave, Six felt the ground shaking more violently. He looked back and paused. Standing there looked like a white monsuno of some sort. Or at least he thought it was a monsuno. It was hard to tell from the distance, but it looked like a white wolf. 

“...”

Six opened his mouth to say something to Klipse, but for some reason, the thought of doing so made him feel cold. In fact, all he wanted to do was just watch the creature. Instead of running or attacking, the monsuno faded into the light that started to trickle up from the ground. The tunnels were collapsing.

It was strange. Watching the creature made something stir inside him. Something that couldn't quite be called happiness, but was more fleeting. It made him feel warm, but not like the typical happiness he got when getting acknowledged by his father, or by calling out Demise. It was more… Genuine.

He watched it for a moment more before running after Klipse. Even as he did, he couldn’t get rid of the image of such a creature.

"… Beautiful."

~*~*~*~

The energy swirling all around continued to build. The sides of the cavern started to erode away. The five S.T.O.R.M. soldiers from before escaped with the red haired boy who the monsuno possessed. And chances were, Suno’s group was probably fleeing as well. 

None of them could focus on that. Not when the monsuno escaped into the seal. The three stood there, searching for any sign of the monsuno.

“What’re you doing?! Catch the monsuno already!” Exi shouted as the energy started to shoot out similar to before.

The shapeshifter, Ehna, shook his head. “I can’t! Not until it appears again!” 

They missed their chance of catching it while it was still energy. They couldn’t afford to mess it up this time. The surface of the water boiled violently. It built up over the edge, quickly spilling outward in waves.

The light grew bright. It was coming!

Ehna reached for his belt, but found that it was missing more than just the confiscated Core Tech monsuno. When did-

He gasped. It must’ve been taken with the other core! Suddenly, an explosion went off behind them. 

The three turned to see the monsuno they had captured returning back to normal. What’s more, Suno was there with the lynchpin. Escaping!

Before any of them could move, the white cores in Ehna’s hands got bright and hot. He winced as he let go, the cores shattering before they hit the ground.

“Stupid- the monsuno are free!”

“We gotta call on Petros!” Exi shouted. 

“Triah!” Ehna turned to the larger figure, “Where’s Tesserah?!”

The larger figure turned to them. “She was with Suno last-”

There was a scream. They quickly turned back and saw that the one with Sophia Suno’s face was being cornered by the white monsuno. Exi ran a few steps towards her before Ehna pounced on him. The two splashed into the water that was no knee deep.

“Get off! She’s our way back to the Well of Insight!” Exi shouted, “We won’t be able to find it again!”

“And if you try and get between those monsuno you won’t make it back anyway!” Ehna said as he stood up, keeping the other in a headlock, “Listen! We have to catch the monsuno or-”

A flash of white came from the side. They both saw the last monsuno - the wolf monsuno - appear. It slid on its heels before charging at them. As its jaws opened up, Triah came from the left and kicked into its side. The wolf monsuno let out a whine, swerving before growling at the three. Tesserah was shouting angrily at the monsuno, though she’d be no match for all three. 

The water started to rise. The energy got drawn back in as white wings appeared . The monsuno was forming! The three of them eyed the seal, but the wolf monsuno leapt up again, blocking their path. 

There was a screech. One of the monsuno charged at them from behind.

“This way!” Ehna shouted to Triah, throwing Exi up over his shoulder. The two bolted for the cavern where they had thrown the S.T.O.R.M. soldiers in before. Glancing back quickly, Ehna saw the jackal monsuno on their heels. “Exi get rid of it!” 

“But I haven’t had a recharge!”

“Want me to drop you instead?!”

Exi cringed, but held his hands out. Two short blasts collided with the jackal monsuno, propelling the two forward somewhat. They tumbled down into the hole, which had filled with water. When they came up for air, Triah jumped in after them. 

“Hold your breath!” He shouted, white light flashing right behind him as it consumed the entire cavern. 

~*~*~*~

The cloud carrier was over the ocean, the storm and the desert in the distance. Commandant Marshall Charlemagne sat in her office, drumming her fingers against her arm. She looked out the large window, debating on the next course of action. The clouds were clearing quickly. Enough so that they could go back and see the damage done by the Wild Core bomb and report back to the World Council..

She frowned at that thought. In a single day she lost one of her bases to those rogues called the Forge Resistance. Not to mention how she had failed to capture Chase Suno and his friends. 

She would make them all pay! Although she first had to deal with Jeredy Suno. He probably had something to do with what happened, and she was not the type to let any deeds go unpunished.

Charlemagne looked over the desk. The fake file she had sent to Professor Tallis was strewn about. She scoffed as she tossed it in the trash, no longer useful to her. Admittedly Professor Tallis was probably sour that she had used him to get to Suno with her fake information. 

Well. Not fake. Misleading. It’s true purpose after all was-

"Commandant Marshall."

She turned towards the screen on her desk to see Commander Trey.

"… What is it?" she asked, surprisingly with no hint of anger or impatience.

"It's the Strike Squad. They want to report on their findings over the past few hours."

She raised a brow. Last she had heard they were running after monsuno in the desert (and out of her way). Perhaps they made themselves useful and found something.

"… What do zey want?" she asked. 

"It seems that they had found a source of monsuno energy in the desert, though they could only get samples of it," Trey said, "At least I think they did. Their message was unclear. They had also come into contact with Chase Suno's group."

Charlemagne raised a brow. It seems as if Suno's little friends had managed to get out of the southern base after all. She scoffed. Of course they did, Chase was Jeredy's son after all.

"Anyway, we’re sending cloud hoppers over to pick them up," Trey continued, "Should I escort them to the cloud carrier?"

The blonde woman looked out the window once again. She did a double take, thinking she saw something white moving on the horizon. White wings...

"… Ma'am?"

Shaking her head, she turned back to the screen, "No. Set their course for S.T.O.R.M. Central Command. We’re heading there ourselves and there’s no need for unnecessary trips for failures.”

Trey gave a baffled look before she turned off the screen. She stood up and went to the window. The orange and yellow rays of the sun were quickly retreating away, the sky a mixture of blue and red. The skies were dark over the desert. Her hand slipped into her pocket.

In any other situation she’d feel inclined to investigate what the Strike Squad found, but she was tired. The Commandant Marshall went back to her desk. She placed Driftblade’s core down, the metal clinking against the wood. Her hand hovered over the core before picking up the lone picture frame on the desk. 

“...”

She hated the naive smile on her former self’s face, but she couldn’t bring herself to throw the picture away after all these years. Her eyes instead stayed on the other two in the frame.

She slammed it face down on the desk and went back to the window, crossing her arms behind her back. She sighed deeply, shoulders slumping. Charlemagne stared back out into the sky’s horizon.

"… Siarl."

~*~*~*~

_ Where was her voice?  _

_ He had heard her before. Where was she? _

_ … _

_ It must’ve been a trick in the end. Why else would she appear again so suddenly. _

_ But if that wasn’t her. Who was she? And where was his real mom? She must’ve had the answers but...  _

...

“Chase? Chase! Wake up!”

“Let him sleep it off princess. It’s not like old man Suno is gonna be here in the next five minutes.”

“We should find out if he’s at least okay-”

“Yeah. That was really freaky how-”

Chase’s vision slowly came back into focus. He saw the bright orange and red evening sky. There was movement in the corners of his gaze.

“Ah! He’s awake.”

“Chase?”

He slowly rose up, propping himself up on his palms. They were next to an oasis, palm trees overhead. The other four were kneeling down next to him. Before he could say something, Chase felt something in one of his hands, and looked down to see Lock’s core. He felt it vibrate, knowing that Lock had gone back into his core after it timed out. Chase sighed in relief. 

He looked back up, scratching the back of his neck. “H-Hey guys. Sorry for worrying you.”

“Like we were worried. You’ve gone through worse,” Dax waved off as he stood up. Chase couldn’t help but chuckle at that.

“Is everyone else okay? What happened after we got out?”

“Well we flew out of there thanks to that blast of monsuno energy,” Bren said, pulling up the core tablet, “And it must’ve been the frequency that your dad was looking for cause the core tablet was going crazy. So. Mission accomplished!”

Chase nodded, though it took him a second to process what Bren said, “Okay. Okay. What about Alpha and the others? And those Hand of Destiny creeps? Ah-And the monsuno!”

“Calm down there Chase,” Jinja said, holding his shoulder down when he tried to get up too fast, “Strike Squad got out before us. I saw Bravo and X-Ray find the others when I was battling with Charger. As for those weirdos…”

The four looked back towards the desert. Chase followed their gazes. Just like when they had gotten here the previous day, there was no sign of anything. Not even the clouds from the storm. That was probably a good thing. It meant that they hadn’t been followed or looked for. Which meant...

“So. Does that mean the monsuno got away?” Chase asked, turning to Beyal. 

Suddenly Beyal, Bren, and Dax all grew red. Both Chase and Jinja looked between them.

“Ah. Yes. That,” Beyal said, not looking at Chase and instead tapping his fingers together, “The monsuno left on it’s own. And it must’ve gotten to the source of the monsuno energy. Otherwise the other rogue monsuno wouldn’t have stopped attacking.”

Chase blinked, then let out a sigh. So it really had ended. “That’s good… I’m glad.”

He stood up and offered a hand for the other to take. Beyal grabbed it, Chase squeezing briefly with a soft smile before having to let go.

“What about you Chase?” Jinja asked, standing at his side, “Are you okay with what happened back there? We could’ve had the chance to find your mom. Especially if one of those shapeshifters looked like her.”

Chase frowned. He looked down at Lock’s core, and squeezed it tight. He shook his head.

“That doesn’t matter now,” Chase said, “We’ll get another chance at finding my real mother. I’m sure.”

“Do you think this will help mate?”

Chase looked up, catching something in time as he did. It was a white core, but wasn’t like the empty ones from Core Tech.

“What is it?”

“I nicked it when that creep with the brown hair came near me,” Dax shrugged, “You’d be surprised at how little anyone pays attention when monsuno fights are going on.” 

Chase looked down at the core. There was definitely something different about it. It didn’t look like a shapeshifter core, but maybe it could give the same result. Either way, it was something for his father to look into. 

The core tablet beeped. Bren tapped at it. “Oh. Looks like your dad got our coordinates. It’ll take him an hour or so, but he’ll be here to give us the next location.”

“Well that’s a relief,” Jinja said as she stretched her arms upward, “I’m sick of this desert. I could use a hot shower.”

“Don’t you mean a cold shower?” Dax said with a smirk. Jinja wrinkled her nose at him, punching him jokingly. Chase laughed a little before frowning.

"Hey…" he said. Everyone noticed his change as his gaze fell to the ground, "… Sorry guys."

Bren raised a brow, "What for?"

"… The whole time we were here… I haven't exactly been in the right mindset," Chase said, "I guess everything with the Hand of Destiny and my mother has been eating away at me for a while now. And I should've been more careful- I knew it could’ve been a trap and we still..."

The rest of them exchanged looks, but shrugged at him. 

"We get it," Jinja said, "This is something that you have to do for your family. You just gotta stop thinking you have to do it alone."

"We have been doing things together for a while now. You won't be getting rid of us that easily," Bren said.

"And Old Man Suno did say that we need to stop the Hand anyway," Dax said, looking out towards the desert again, "And if that means helping out your mum then that's what it'll take."

Chase smiled. He watched the surface of the water, the waves lapping slowly. He took a deep breath as he faced the sunset. There was a flicker of something, and Chase blinked when he thought he saw something white moving amongst the clouds.

"Ah."

He turned to Beyal, who seemed to notice it too.

"… What is it?" Bren asked, trying to follow his line of sight to see what it was.

"Ah… Nothing," Beyal said, shaking his head. Chase looked back, faintly seeing whatever it was in the distance. He gripped onto Lock's core, feeling the energy from within. 

His mind was clear, and the voice that had been disturbing him for the long two days was now gone, replaced by the true thoughts of his mother. Along with the encouraging feeling from Lock.

'Don't worry, mom,' he thought, taking a deep breath of the fresh desert air, 'I promise I'm coming for you. And the Hand of Destiny.'

_ To be continued. _


End file.
